But whether they were alone or in
company, whether they danced or talked, whether he came or went, she
showed a perfect unconcern and freedom of manner to which he longed
to put an end. She was much too cold and collected even for his
unsentimental nature. He would have forgiven some agitation, some
confusion, a few blushes now and then, perhaps a sigh, but these
signs of the heart's flutterings were nowhere forthcoming. As they
were out one day alone together, something happened which filled
Paul with doubt and trouble. Malvine had been attracted to Wilhelm
when first she saw him, and since then she had incessantly thought
and talked of him. He was so handsome, he spoke so charmingly! She
thought it astonishing that any one should not love him, just
because his admiration was mingled with so much shyness. She herself
was much too insignificant a person to think of loving him, and
beside, he was not free, and it would have been a sin to think of
the man who was engaged to her friend. This enthusiasm for Wilhelm
naturally did not escape Paul's notice, but it did not disquiet him,
because he took into account Malvine's nature. "It is a harmless
fancy," he said to himself, "the sort of fancy girls take sometimes
for princes whose photographs they see in shop-windows, or for
actors whom they have admired as Don Carlos or Romeo; later on they
laugh over their childish folly, and these fancies never prevent the
pretty enthusiast from marrying and being happy.
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