“Then,” said I, with some anxiety, “as she has no secrets from you, she must have told you the cause of those hours of delirium?” “Yes, don’t worry yourself about it; she has told me everything, and without either of us thinking of making light of it. On the contrary, we were very sad over it, and Madame d’Ionis reproached herself for allowing you to tamper with certain ideas of a dangerous nature. All that I know about it myself, is that though I may swear like a trooper that I do not believe in the green ladies, I would never have had sufficient courage to summon them a second time. And, besides, if they had appeared I would have certainly broken everything in the room, and you whom I so stupidly irritated yesterday, your bravery, as regards supernatural affairs, far excels my curiosity.” This amiable youth, who was then on leave of absence came to see me every day, and we soon grew very intimate. He could not show himself yet at the château d’Ionis, and he awaited with impatience the time when his beloved and beautiful cousin would permit him to present himself, after she had consecrated the first period of mourning, _aux convenances_. He would have preferred taking up his abode in some town nearer her residence, but she had forbidden him to do so in due form, unwilling to rely upon the prudence of a _fiancé_ so much in love. Besides, he said that he had business at Angers, although he could not explain what it was, and he did not appear to interest himself much in it, as he passed all his time with me. He told me all about his love affair with Madame d’Ionis. They had been destined for each other and their love had been mutual from infancy. Caroline had been sacrificed to ambition and placed in a convent to break up their intimacy. They had seen each other secretly before and since her marriage with M. d’Ionis. The young captain did not consider himself bound to make any mystery of it, as their relations had been always of a perfectly pure nature. “Had it been otherwise,” said he, “I would not be quite so confiding.” His confidences, which I had at first repelled, ended by winning me over. His was one of those frank and open natures which no one could resist. He questioned me persistently, and seemed to understand the art of doing so without appearing either curious or importunate. You could not help feeling that he was really interested in you, and that he wished those whom he loved to be as happy as himself. I allowed myself then to go as far as to tell him the whole of my story, and even to confess the strange passion that dominated me. He listened to me very seriously and assured me he saw nothing absurd in my love. Instead of trying to make me forget it, he advised me to complete the task I had set myself of becoming a good and worthy man.