Page:Storm Over Paris.pdf/93

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a cynic. The best way to get along with you is to be silent."

"Just try your luck once more, darling, and maybe you'll find that I'm really as romantic and philosophic as anyone else."

Anna's eyes had sparkled with joy. "Well, what I was thinking of is how many romances the moon up there has already witnessed."

"Why the moon?" He felt a momentary depression.

"Because wherever there's romance there's sure to be a moon. Voyons! Eric, you don't even seem to understand."

"I don't see why the two have to go together," he scoffed. "There can be romance without a moon-just as there can be a moon without romance."

"And is that the way a romantic would speak?" Anna teased. Her eyes, far away and absorbed, followed the moon sit floated over the Place de la Chatelet. "You see, Eric, that isn't exactly Felix Dubois' point of view. Only when there was a full moon did he visit his dead bride. Four times in a row he disturbed her grave."

"What are you talking about?" asked Eric in surprise, shocked by her graveyard sentiment.

"I just happened to see her tomb today," Anna went on after a while, "all covered with wild grass, barb-wired round and round, the memorial stone plain, yet hiding secrets of a strange, mysterious love." She eyed him curiously and added: "Isn't it terrifying? A dead body in full moonlight? How strange! Unbelievably strange . . . Just think, Eric, where passion can lead one..."

Eric thought it strategic to fall into her romantic mood. "Love has no limits, dearest," he said, and taking her arm, led her into the shadow of a tree. "And how strong is your love?" he asked suddenly, and taking her face in his hands brought it close to his own.