Volume II Part 9 (1/2)

But he could find no opening; had no pretext, and he waited for soed, and his irl still slept, while Morin washis own fall The day broke and soon the first ray of sunlight appeared in the sky, a long, clear ray which shone on the face of the sleeping girl, and woke her, so she sat up, looked at the country, then at Morin and s and bright look, and Morin trembled Certainly that smile was intended for hinal which he aiting for That smile meant to say: ”How stupid, what a ninny, what a dolt, what a donkey you are, to have sat there on your seat like a post all night

”Just look at ? And you have sat like that for the whole night, when you have been alone with a pretty wo as she looked at hi to find so suitable to say, no , and then, seized with a coward's courage, he said to hi,” and suddenly, without the slightest warning, he went towards her, his ar her in his ar out: ”_Help! Help!_” and screae door, and waved her ar to ju sure that she would throw herself out, held her by the skirt and stammered: ”Oh! Madame! Oh! Madauards rushed up at the young wonals, who threw herself into their ar: ”That man wantedwantedtoto ” And then she fainted

They were at Mauze station, and the gendarme on duty arrested Morin

When the victiained her consciousness, she ainst him, and the police drew it up The poor linen-draper did not reach ho over hie to morals in a public place

II

At that time I was editor of the _Fanal des Charentes_, and I used to meet Morin every day at the _Cafe du Commerce_, and the day after his adventure he came to see me, as he did not knohat to do I did not hide my opinion fro No decent iven hied through theno more notice of hiue Rivet, a bantering, but very sensible little ive us his advice

He advised me to see the Public Prosecutor, as a friend of istrate He toldlady, Mademoiselle Henriette Bonnel, who had just received her certificate as governess in Paris, and spent her holidays with her uncle and aunt, ere very respectable tradespeople in Mauze, and what made Morin's case all the ed a complaint; for the public official had consented to let the matter drop if this coet him to do this

I went back to Morin's and found him in bed, ill with excitement and distress His wife, a tall raw-boned wo hi atof a Morin Well, there he is, the darling!”

And she planted herself in front of the bed, with her hands on her hips

I told hio and see her uncle and aunt It was a delicate mission, but I undertook it, and the poor devil never ceased repeating: ”I assure you I did not even kiss her, no, not even that I will take my oath to it!”

I replied: ”It is all the sa” And I took a thousand francs which he gave ht best, but as I did not care venturing to her uncle's house alone, I begged Rivet to go with reed to do, on the condition that ent ient business at La Rochelle that afternoon So two hours later we rang at the door of a nice country house A pretty girl ca lady in question, and I said to Rivet in a low voice: ”Confound it! I begin to understand Morin!”

The uncle, Monsieur Tonnelet subscribed to _The Fanal_, and a fervent political co-religionist of ours, who received us with open arhted at having the two editors in his house and Rivet whispered to e theof a Morin_ for him”

The niece had left the room, and I introduced the delicate object I waved the scepter of scandal before his eyes: I accentuated the inevitable depreciation which the young lady would suffer if such an affair got known, for nobody would believe in a siood man seemed undecided, but he could notwithout his wife, ould not be in until late that evening, but suddenly he uttered an exclamation of triumph: ”Look here, I have an excellent idea I will keep you here to dine and sleep, and when e matters”

Rivet resisted at first, but the wish to extricate that _Pig of a Morin_, decided hiot up radiant, called his niece, and proposed that we should take a stroll in his grounds, saying: ”We will leave serious an to talk politics, while I soon found irl, as really charan to speak to her about her adventure, and try to make her my ally She did not, however, appear the least confused, and listened tovery much

I said to her: ”Just think, Mademoiselle, how unpleasant it will be for you You will have to appear in Court, to encounter malicious looks, to speak before everybody, and to recount that unfortunate occurrence in the railway carriage, in public Do you not think, between ourselves, that it would have been much better for you to have put that dirty scoundrel back into his place without calling for assistance, and h, and replied: ”What you say is quite true! but what could I do? I was frightened, and when one is frightened, one does not stop to reason with oneself As soon as I realized the situation, I was very sorry that I had called out, but then it was too late You must also remember that the idiot threw hi like a lunatic I did not even knohat he wanted ofnervous or intiirl, that; I can quite see how that pig Morin caly: ”Come, Mademoiselle, confess that he was excusable, for after all, a irl as you are without feeling a legitihed more than ever, and showed her teeth, and said: ”Between the desire and the act, Monsieur, there is rooh it was not very clear, and I asked abruptly: ”Well now, supposing I were to kiss you noould you do?” She stopped to look at me from head to foot, and then said calmly: ”Oh! you? That is quite another matter”

I knew perfectly well, by Jove, that it was not the sahborhood called me, _Handsome Labarbe_ I was thirty years old in those days, but I asked her: ”And why, pray?” She shrugged her shoulders, and replied: ”Well! because you are not so stupid as he is” And then she added, looking at ly, either” And before she could make a movement to avoidaside, but it was too late, and then she said: ”Well, you are not very bashful, either! But don't do that sort of thing again”

I put on a humble look and said in a low voice: ”Oh! Made istrate for the sa steadily at her, I replied: ”Because you are one of the ; because it would be an honor and a glory for me to have wished to offer you violence, and because people would have said, after seeing you: Well, Labarbe has richly deserved what he has got, but he is a lucky fellow, all the saain, and said: ”How funny you are!” And she had not finished the word _funny_, before I had her inher ardently wherever I could find a place, on her forehead, on her eyes, on her lips occasionally, on her cheeks, all over her head, soed to leave exposed, in spite of herself, to defend others, but at last she ry ”You are very unmannerly, Monsieur,” she said, ”and I am sorry I listened to you”

I took her hand in so your pardon, Mademoiselle I have offended you; I have acted like a brute! Do not be angry with ht for so forto say, and I cried: ”Mademoiselle, I love you!”