All this tenderness of which Edmee was the object, this family affection
so completely new to me, the genuinely cordial relations existing
between respectful plebeians and kindly patricians--everything that I
now saw and heard seemed like a dream. I looked on with a sensation that
it was all unintelligible to me. However, soon after our caravan started
my brain began to work; for I then saw the lieutenant-general (M. de
la Marche) thrust his horse between Edmee's and my own, as if he had a
right to be next to her. I remembered her telling me at Roche-Mauprat
that he was her betrothed. Hatred and anger at once surged up within me,
and I know not what absurdity I should have committed, had not Edmee,
apparently divining the workings of my unruly soul, told him that she
wanted to speak to me, and thus restored me to my place by her side.
"What have you to say to me?" I asked with more eagerness than
politeness.
"Nothing," she answered in an undertone. "I shall have much to say
later. Until then will you do everything I ask of you?"
"And why the devil should I do everything you ask of me, cousin?"
For a moment she hesitated to reply; then, making an effort, she said:
"Because it is thus that a man proves to a woman that he loves her."
"Do you believe that I don't love you?" I replied abruptly.
"How should I know?" she said.
This doubt astonished me very much, and I tried to combat it after my
fashion.
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