Bel Ami. Guy de Maupassant

I did long for you!" said he.

      She repeated: "Be quiet."

      They heard the servant arranging the table in the adjoining dining-room, and he rose, saying: "I must not remain so close to you. I shall lose my head."

      The door opened, and the servant announced that lunch was ready. Duroy gravely offered his arm.

      They lunched face to face, looking at one another and constantly smiling, solely taken up by themselves, and enveloped in the sweet enchantment of a growing love. They ate, without knowing what. He felt a foot, a little foot, straying under the table. He took it between his own and kept it there, squeezing it with all his might. The servant came and went, bringing and taking away the dishes with a careless air, without seeming to notice anything.

      When they had finished they returned to the drawing-room, and resumed their place on the sofa, side by side. Little by little he pressed up against her, striving to take her in his arms. But she calmly repulsed him, saying: "Take care; someone may come in."

      He murmured: "When can I see you quite alone, to tell you how I love you?"

      She leant over towards him and whispered: "I will come and pay you a visit one of these days."

      He felt himself redden. "You know – you know – my place is very small."

      She smiled: "That does not matter. It is you I shall call to see, and not your rooms."

      Then he pressed her to know when she would come. She named a day in the latter half of the week. He begged of her to advance the date in broken sentences, playing with and squeezing her hands, with glittering eyes, and flushed face, heated and torn by desire, that imperious desire which follows tête-à-tête repasts. She was amazed to see him implore her with such ardor, and yielded a day from time to time. But he kept repeating: "To-morrow, only say to-morrow."

      She consented at length. "Yes, to-morrow; at five o'clock."

      He gave a long sigh of joy, and they then chatted almost quietly with an air of intimacy, as though they had known one another twenty years. The sound of the door bell made them start, and with a bound they separated to a distance. She murmured: "It must be Laurine."