"That is right, Diane!" said Gabriel, taking the little hand, white and soft, which she surrendered to him once more; "that is as it should be. Let us enjoy a little happiness after all we have gone through. Let us give free play to our hearts to revel in their confidence and joy." "Yes, indeed; it is so good to be near you, Gabriel!" Diane replied. "Let us forget the world and the uproar around us for a moment; let us enjoy to the full the unaccustomed sweetness of this hour. God, I think, will allow us to do so without anxiety or dread. You are right; else why have we suffered so?" With a graceful movement which was common with her when she was a child, she laid her lovely head upon Gabriel's shoulder; her great velvety eyes slowly closed, and her hair brushed the lips of the ardent youth. It was he then who rose, shuddering and bewildered. "Well, what is it?" said Diane, opening her drooping eyes in wonder. He fell on his knees before her, pale as a ghost, and threw his arms about her. "Oh, Diane, Diane! I love you!" he cried from the bottom of his heart. "And I love you, too, Gabriel," Diane replied, fearlessly, and as if in obedience to an irresistible impulse of her heart. How their faces came nearer together; how their lips met; how in that long, sweet kiss, their very souls were blended, God only knows; certain it is that they did not know themselves. But suddenly Gabriel, who felt his reason trembling in the vertigo of happiness, tore himself away from Diane. "Diane, leave me!" he almost shrieked, with a note of horror in his voice, "let me fly!" "Fly! and why, pray?" she asked wonderingly. "Oh, Diane, Diane! if you should turn out to be my sister!" replied Gabriel, beside himself. "Your sister!" echoed Diane, overwhelmed, paralyzed. Gabriel checked himself, dismayed and like one stunned by his own words; drawing his hand across his burning brow, he asked in a loud voice,-- "What did I say?" "What did you say, really?" said Diane. "Must I believe it to be literally true, that fearful word? What is the key to this terrible mystery? Can I really be your sister? Oh, _mon Dieu_!" "My sister? Did I tell you that you were my sister?" said Gabriel. "Ah, it is true, then!" cried Diane, gasping for breath. "No; it is not, cannot be true! I do not know it, and who can know it? Besides, I ought not to have said a word of all this to you. It is a secret involving life and death which I have sworn to keep. Ah, Heaven have pity upon me! I have preserved my self-control and my reason amid suffering and misfortune; must it be that the first drop of happiness which passes my lips should intoxicate me even to insanity and forgetfulness of my oath!" "Gabriel," rejoined Madame de Castro, gravely, "God knows that it is no vain and purposeless curiosity which moves my words; but you have said either too much or too little for my peace of mind. Now you must finish." "Impossible, impossible!" cried Gabriel in terror.