Moved and touched, he
clasped her to his heart in silence.
CHAPTER XII.
TANNHAUSER'S FLIGHT.
"To be as much alone with you in great Paris as if we were on a
desert island in the Pacific--in the midst of the crowd, yet having
no part with it; spectators of its amusing doings, and yet unnoticed
by it. You all my world, and I yours--what a sweet and perfect
dream!" Thus Pilar as she went out in fine weather, thickly veiled,
on Wilhelm's arm into the crowded streets, and she did her utmost to
prolong the charming delusion as far as possible. She paid no
visits, invited no one to the house, avoided every familiar face in
the street. Through the consul and Don Antonio, however, her more
immediate circle got wind by degrees of her return to Paris, and
visitors began to call at the little house on the Boulevard Pereire
who would not submit to being sent away. With the versatility of
mind peculiar to her, Pilar soon adapted herself to the new position
of affairs, and tried to make the best of it. Of course it would
have been infinitely more agreeable, she said to Wilhelm, to have
been able to remain longer in their delicious seclusion, but, sooner
or later, social life would have to be resumed, and it was best he
should make a beginning now.
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