"
Before replying, Hubertine examined her closely. But her fears vanished
instantly before the limpid eyes and the pure lips of this exquisite
young girl. Yet she was deeply troubled, and great tears rolled down her
cheeks.
"My poor, dear child," she whispered, as she had done the previous
evening in church.
Astonished to see her in such a way, she who was always so equable, who
never wept, Angelique exclaimed:
"But what is the matter, mother? It is, indeed, true that I have not
done right, inasmuch as I have not made you my confidante. But you would
pardon me if you knew how much I have suffered from it, and how keen
my remorse has been. Since at first I did not speak, later on I did not
dare to break the silence. Will you forgive me?"
She had seated herself near her mother, and had placed her arm
caressingly around her waist. The old bench seemed almost hidden in this
moss-covered corner of the Cathedral. Above their heads the lilacs made
a little shade, while near them was the bush of eglantine which the
young girl had set out in the hope that it might bear roses; but, having
been neglected for some time, it simply vegetated, and had returned to
its natural state.
"Mother, let me tell you everything now.
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