days? Here is the summer upon us. Soon it will be over and there will come a short autumn and a long dreary winter. So it is with our lives."
"There will be other summers. Besides, there is a whole one still before us."
"We may not see it."
"We may not see to-morrow. Only the good God knows whether we shall. And we are so young, Gerard; only children."
"I am twenty-three."
"Yes, only twenty-three; and I am eighteen."
"Eighteen already! Why should we not enjoy those sunny days together?"
"But, surely, we may. Alban is often away, and I can as often be with you. We will go for walks together in the pine woods. I will pick you nosegays of wild flowers. Can we not be very happy?"
"Yes, happy; but, if you were my own, how much happier!"
"I can never understand that, Gerard.
