"Still, I ask you, what is the matter, and why are you thus agitated?" exclaimed Martial. "Oh, Martial, Martial, the very thing you have been proposing--" "Well?" "I was going to ask you." "To quit Paris?" "Yes," replied she, in a hurried tone; "and to try your consent to accompany you to the forests, where we should have a nice, neat little house, and children whom I should love as La Louve would the children of her man--or, if you would permit me," continued La Louve, in a faltering voice, "instead of calling you 'my man,' to say 'my husband?' For," added she, confusedly and rapidly, "for without that change, we should not obtain the place." Martial, in his turn, regarded La Louve with deep astonishment, unable to comprehend her meaning. "What place are you speaking of?" said he, at length. "Of that of gamekeeper." "That I should have?" "Yes." "And who would give it to me?" "The protector of the young girl I saved." "They do not know me." "But I have told her all about you, and she will recommend us to her protector." "And what have you told her about me?" "Oh, Martial, can you not guess? Of what could I speak but of your goodness--and my love for you?" "My excellent Louve!" "And then, you know, being in prison together makes folks talk to each other, and open their hearts in the way of confidence. Besides which, there was something so gentle and engaging about this young creature, that I could not help feeling drawn towards her, even in spite of myself; for I very quickly discovered she was a very different person to such as you and I have been used to." "And who is she?"