“Tell me,” she said, “you can see me and hear me, can’t you? What has happened, good God?”
He did not at first answer, being worried by the presence of Pierre. On recognising the young priest, however, he seemed content that he should be there, and then glanced apprehensively round the room to see if there were anybody else. And at last he murmured: “No one saw me, no one knows?”
“No, no; be easy. We carried you up with Victorine without meeting a soul. Aunt has just gone out, uncle is shut up in his rooms.”
At this Dario seemed relieved, and he even smiled. “I don’t want anybody to know, it is so stupid,” he murmured.
“But in God’s name what has happened?” she again asked him.
“Ah! I don’t know, I don’t know,” was his response, as he lowered his eyelids with a weary air as if to esca
