"Do you?"

"Oh! I do not care where I go."

"Yet you go somewhere every evening, for you always go out at the same
hour and return late at night."

"Are you questioning me, brother?" said Henri, with gentleness.

"Certainly not; let each keep his own secrets if he wishes to do so."

"If you wish it, brother, I will have no secrets from you."

"Will you not, Henri?"

"No; are you not my elder brother and friend?"

"Oh! I thought you had secrets from me, who am only a poor layman. I
thought you confessed to our learned brother, that pillar of theology,
that light of the Church, who will be a cardinal some day, and that you
obtained absolution from him, and perhaps, at the same time, advice."

Henri took his brother's hand affectionately. "You are more than a
confessor to me, my dear Anne--more than a father; you are my friend."

"Then, my friend, why, from so gay as you used to be, have I seen you
become sad? and why, instead of going out by day, do you only go out at
night?"