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were she to return.
As to Dea, she made no allusion to the woman who had come and passed
away. She listened, perhaps, and was sufficiently enlightened by the
sighs of Ursus, and now and then by some significant exclamation, such
as,--
"
One does not get ounces of gold every day!"
She spoke no more of the "woman." This showed deep instinct. The soul
takes obscure precautions, in the secrets of which it is not always
admitted itself. To keep silence about any one seems to keep them afar
off. One fears that questions may call them back. We put silence between
us, as if we were shutting a door.
So the incident fell into oblivion.
Was it ever anything? Had it ever occurred? Could it be said that a
shadow had floated between Gwynplaine and Dea? Dea did not know of it,
nor Gwynplaine either. No; nothing had occurred. The duchess herself was
blurred in the distant perspective like an illusion. It had been but a
momentary dream passing over Gwynplaine, out of which he had awakened.
When it fades away, a reverie, like a mist, leaves no trace behind; and
when the cloud has passed on, love shines out as brightly in the heart
as the sun in the sky.
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