I might have been one of the
worst of women."
"You might have been?--yes, dear, but you are not. And if you had been,
Gustave Lenoble would not have flung his heart into your lap, even if
your eyes had been sweeter than they are. We impulsive people are people
of quick perceptions, and know what we are doing better than our
reflective friends imagine. I did not need to be an hour in your company,
dear love, in order to know that you are noble and true. There are tones
in the voice, there are expressions of the face, that tell these things
better than words can tell them; for, you see, words can lie, while tones
and looks are apt to be true. Yes, my angel, I knew you from that first
night. My heart leapt across all conventional barriers, and found its way
straight to yours."
"I can see that you think much better of me than I deserve; but even
supposing you not to be deceived as to myself, I fear you are much
deceived as to my surroundings."
"I know that your father is poor, and that the burden of his poverty
weighs heavily on you. That is enough for me to know."
"No, M. Lenoble; it is act enough for you to know. If I am to be your
wife, I will not enter your family as an impostor. I told you the truth
about myself the other day when you questioned me, and I am bound to tell
you the truth about my father."
And then she told him, in the plainest frankest language, the story of
her father's life.
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