"How do you do, mademoiselle!" he asked. His affectionate eyes blinked behind the crystal of his glasses. "Hm! It seems to me that you indulge in very frivolous reading!" "Don't I?" Thérèse said, and returned his smile.... "This is nothing to what I have been asking for?" "What was it?" She gave him the titles of the books she was awaiting. Boerzell pretended to be indignant and exclaimed that it was sheer robbery and usurpation. Were women now going to meddle with such studies! They talked for a few minutes, in their idyllic attitude, over the desk which was to them as a flowery gate. At length, Thérèse exclaimed: "Well, au revoir, monsieur.... They are bringing me my books.... The time for gossiping is past.... I must return to my seat...." Boerzell had a huge volume under his arm. He bowed and said: "I hope that we shall soon meet again, mademoiselle!" "So do I, monsieur!" Instinctively she watched him walk away, between the rows of readers bent over their tasks. Without knowing why, she found him less awkward than at the ball, less unpleasant and like one transfigured. He walked calmly, dropping "a good-day" here and there, pausing for a handshake, delayed an instant for a quick exchange of words; in this favorable atmosphere, he was served by his very disadvantages, by his tousled hair, his ill-cut beard, the shiny cloth of his coat and his careless silhouette which showed that he was a champion of ideas. He benefited from the temporary beauty which comes from ease and authority enjoyed in appropriate surroundings. He was handsome like a high official in his office at the Ministry, handsome like an adjutant at the gate of a military barracks. "Well! the poor fellow is not so bad!" Thérèse murmured as she returned to her seat. Then she fell to work and completely forgot him. When she came out, however, going to the checkroom, she heard the voice of Boerzell behind her. "Yes, it is I, mademoiselle!... Will you allow me to accompany you?... I believe we are neighbors.... I live at the end of the rue de Rennes." Mlle. Raindal hesitated. It was not that she questioned the propriety of his offer. She had long since disdained petty prejudices that affected such cases; for old maids are as deposed sovereigns who free themselves from etiquette once they have lost their power. On the other hand, she was weighing the point whether Boerzell's company would not bore her before they reached the rue de Rennes. Finally she gave her reply: "Yes, surely!... I shall be very pleased.... Let's go together...."