'What you do is wrong,' pursued madame; 'it is an act characteristic of men of your unreliable, imaginative temperament--a step impulsive, injudicious, inconsistent--a proceeding vexatious, and not estimable in the view of persons of steadier and more resolute character.' 'You know not what I have of steady and resolute in me,' said he, 'but you shall see; the event shall teach you. Modeste,' he continued, less fiercely, 'be gentle, be pitying, be a woman. Look at this poor face, and relent. You know I am your friend and the friend of your friends; in spite of your taunts you well and deeply know I may be trusted. Of sacrificing myself I made no difficulty, but my heart is pained by what I see. It _must_ have and give solace. _Leave me!_' This time, in the '_leave me_' there was an intonation so bitter and so imperative, I wondered that even Madame Beck herself could for one moment delay obedience. But she stood firm; she gazed upon him dauntless; she met his eyes, forbidding and fixed as stone. She was opening her lips to retort. I saw over all M. Paul's face a quick rising light and fire. I can hardly tell how he managed the movement. It did not seem violent; it kept the form of courtesy. He gave his hand; it scarce touched her, I thought; she ran, she whirled from the room; she was gone, and the door shut, in one second. The flash of passion was all over very soon. He smiled as he told me to wipe my eyes; he waited quietly till I was calm, dropping from time to time a stilling, solacing word. Ere long I sat beside him once more myself--reassured, not desperate, nor yet desolate; not friendless, not hopeless, not sick of life and seeking death. 'It made you very sad, then, to lose your friend?' said he. 'It kills me to be forgotten, monsieur,' I said. 'All these weary days I have not heard from you one word, and I was crushed with the possibility, growing to certainty, that you would depart without saying farewell.' 'Must I tell you what I told Modeste Beck--that you do not know me? Must I show and teach you my character? You _will_ have proof that I can be a firm friend? Without clear proof this hand will not lie still in mine, it will not trust my shoulder as a safe stay? Good. The proof is ready. I come to justify myself.' 'Say anything, teach anything, prove anything, monsieur; I can listen now.'