Page:The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter.djvu/365

evening hasn’t been such a bad one. My stay here hasn’t begun amiss.”

The next day Mademoiselle Juliet called at the appointed hour. The evening was spent only in explanations. Juliet had learned the recent rupture of Rodolphe with the blue-eyed girl whom he had so dearly loved; she knew that after having already left her once before Rodolphe had taken her back, and she was afraid of being the victim of a similar re-awakening of love.

“You see,” said she, with a pretty little pout, “I don’t at all care about playing a ridiculous part. I warn you that I am very froward, and once mistress here,” and she underlined by a look the meaning she gave to the word, “I remain, and do not give up my place.”

Rodolphe summoned all his eloquence to the rescue to convince her that her fears were without foundation, and the girl, having on her side a willingness to be convinced, they ended by coming to an understanding. Only they were no longer at an understanding when midnight struck, for Rodolphe wanted Juliet to stay, and she insisted on going.

“No,” she said to him as he persisted in trying to persuade her. “Why be in such a hurry? We shall always arrive in time at what we want to, provided you do not halt on the way. I will return to-morrow.”

And she returned thus every evening for a week, to go away in the same way when midnight struck.

This delay did not annoy Rodolphe very much. In matters of love, and even of mere fancy, he was one of that school of travellers who prolong their journey and render it picturesque. This little sentimental preface had for its result to lead on Rodophe at the outset further than he meant to go. And it was no doubt to lead him to that point at which fancy, ripened by the resistance opposed to