To think that I may one day have a granddaughter calling
herself Madame Daburon! You must petition the king, my friend, to change
your name."
If instead of intoxicating himself with dreams of happiness, this acute
observer had studied the character of his idol, the effect might have
been to put him upon his guard. In the meanwhile, he noticed singular
alterations in her humour. On certain days, she was gay and careless
as a child. Then, for a week, she would remain melancholy and dejected.
Seeing her in this state the day following a ball, to which her
grandmother had made a point of taking her, he dared to ask her the
reason of her sadness.
"Oh! that," answered she, heaving a deep sigh, "is my secret,--a secret
of which even my grandmother knows nothing."
M. Daburon looked at her. He thought he saw a tear between her long
eyelashes.
"One day," continued she, "I may confide in you: it will perhaps be
necessary."
The magistrate was blind and deaf. "I also," answered he, "have a
secret, which I wish to confide to you in return."
When he retired towards midnight, he said to himself, "To-morrow I will
confess everything to her.
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