.

In Which Madame Acquires a Proof that Listeners Hear What.
Is Said.
There was a moment's silence, as if the mysterious sounds of night were hushed to listen, at the same time as Madame, to the youthful passionate disclosures of De Guiche.
Raoul was about to speak.

He leaned indolently against the trunk of the large oak, and replied in his sweet and musical voice, "Alas, my dear De Guiche, it is a great misfortune." "Yes," cried the latter, "great indeed." "You do not understand me, De Guiche.

I say that it is a great misfortune for you, not merely loving, but not knowing how to conceal your love." "What do you mean ?" said De Guiche.
"Yes, you do not perceive one thing; namely, that it is no longer to the only friend you have,--in other words,--to a man who would rather die than betray you; you do not perceive, I say, that it is no longer to your only friend that you confide your passion, but to the first person that approaches you." "Are you mad, Bragelonne," exclaimed De Guiche, "to say such a thing to me ?" "The fact stands thus, however." "Impossible! How, in what manner can I have ever been indiscreet to such an extent ?" "I mean, that your eyes, your looks, your sighs, proclaim, in spite of yourself, that exaggerated feeling which leads and hurries a man beyond his own control.

In such a case he ceases to be master of himself; he is a prey to a mad passion, that makes him confide his grief to the trees, or to the air, from the very moment he has no longer any living being in reach of his voice.