THE YELLOW EOSES. 329 



« Just so." 



" How, Madame, just so ?" 



" I will tell you what is become of Noemi." 



"You wiU, Madam?" 



" Yes ; she loved you." 



" But the yellow rose ? " 



" She never saw the billet. Your sudden departure cost 

 her much grief and many tears ; but, like you, she married — 

 Monsieur de Lorgerel." 



"M. De Lorgerel!" 



" Yes, M. de Lorgerel, whose widow I now am." 



" What, you !— What ! you, Nolmi Amelotf ' 



" Alas ! yes, as you are, or rather as you no longer are, 

 Edmond d'Altheim." 



" Who could ever have believed that the day would come 

 when we should not recognise each other?" 



" Yes, is it not strange? And only to meet to play at back- 

 gammon?" 



" But the bouquet?" 



" The bouquet — here it is. I have always kept it." 



And Madame Lorgerel fetched an ebony box from an 

 escritoire, which she opened. 



She took out a faded bouquet. She trembled. 



" Untie it, untie it ! " said M. Descoudraies. 



She untied the bouquet, and found the billet, which had 

 been there forty-two years. 



Both remained silent. I wished to leave them. M. Descou- 

 draies arose. Madame de Lorgerel took him by the hand and 

 said, " You are right. This renewal of the youth of our hearts 

 must not take place before two old faces like ours. Let us 

 avoid casting this ridicule upon a noble sentiment, which will 

 perhaps afford us happiness for the rest of our lives. Do not 

 come again till after the expiration of a few days." 



From that time, old M. Descoudraies and old Madame de 

 Lorgerel are seldom apart ; I have never witnessed anything 

 like the sentiment that exists between them. They go over 

 again and again all the little details of that love which was 

 never told; they have a thousand things to relate, they are 

 in love retrospectively: they wish to be married, but they 

 dare not marry. 



