I made three turns more; then I threw away my cigarette, and, drawing a chair to her side, sat down. "Your position in society must distress you?" I said to her. "I know," she replied, raising her exquisite face and fixing upon mine her blue eyes wherein apathy seemed to be always at odds with melancholy,--"yes, I know, my dear Aleo, that I am branded in society with an ineffaceable designation, that of kept mistress." "We will efface it, Juliette; my name will purify yours." "Pride of the grandee!" she rejoined with a sigh. Then, turning suddenly to me and seizing my hand, which she put to her lips in spite of me, she added: "Do you really mean that you will marry me, Bustamente? O my God! my God! what comparisons you force me to make!" "What do you mean, my dear child?" I asked her. She did not reply, but burst into tears. These tears, of which I understood the cause only too well, hurt me terribly. But I concealed the species of frenzy which they aroused in me and returned to my seat by her side. "Poor Juliette!" I said to her; "will that wound bleed forever?" "You gave me leave to weep," she replied; "that was the first of our agreements." "Weep, my poor afflicted darling," I said; "then listen and answer me." She wiped away her tears and put her hand in mine. "Juliette," I said to her, "when you speak of yourself as a kept woman, you are mad. Of what consequence are the opinions and coarse remarks of a few fools? You are my friend, my companion, my mistress." "Alas! yes," she said, "I am your mistress, Aleo, and it is that dishonors me; I should have chosen to die rather than to bequeath to a noble heart like yours the possession of a half extinct heart." "We will rekindle the ashes gradually, my Juliette; let me hope that they still hide a spark which I can find." "Yes, yes, I hope so, I wish that it may be so!" she said eagerly. "So I shall be your wife? But why? Shall I love you better for it? Will you feel surer of me?" "I shall know that you are happier and I shall be happier for that reason." "Happier! you are mistaken; I am as happy with you as possible; how can the title of Donna Bustamente make me any happier?" "It would put you out of reach of the insolent disdain of society." "Society!" said Juliette; "you mean your friends. What is society? I have never known. I have passed through life and made the tour of the globe, but have never been able to discover what you call society." "I know that you have lived hitherto like the enchanted maiden in her globe of crystal, and yet I have seen you shed bitter tears over the deplorable position in which you then were. I made an inward vow to offer you my rank and my name as soon as I should be assured of your affection."