Ah, I can read you, you see, as a shepherd reads the sky." "It is nothing, Amory, but--" "But what ?" "You leave me this evening." "But only to return to-morrow." "And must you really, really go to-night ?" "It would be as much as my commission is worth to be absent.

Why, I am on duty to-morrow morning outside the king's bedroom! After chapel-time Major de Brissac will take my place, and then I am free once more." "Ah, Amory, when you talk of the king and the court and the grand ladies, you fill me with wonder." "And why with wonder ?" "To think that you who live amid such splendour should stoop to the humble room of a mercer." "Ah, but what does the room contain ?" "There is the greatest wonder of all.

That you who pass your days amid such people, so beautiful, so witty, should think me worthy of your love, me, who am such a quiet little mouse, all alone in this great house, so shy and so backward! It is wonderful!" "Every man has his own taste," said her cousin, stroking the tiny hand.
"It is with women as with flowers.

Some may prefer the great brilliant sunflower, or the rose, which is so bright and large that it must ever catch the eye.

But give me the little violet which hides among the mosses, and yet is so sweet to look upon, and sheds its fragrance round it.