wasn't going to chance stumbling about in the dark."

"Let's see what you've got," she commanded.

He opened his hand and disclosed on the palm of it two earrings, set with sapphires. She took them and looked at them. Her face changed; her eyes sparkled; she murmured in quite a different voice:"How lovely they are, sapphires!... The sky is sometimes like that--at
night ... that dark blue, full of light...."

At the moment they were crossing a piece of land on which stood a
large scarecrow, simply clad in a pair of trousers. On one of the
cross-sticks which served it for arms hung a jacket. It was the jacket
of Saint-Quentin. He had hung it there the evening before, and in order
to render himself unrecognizable, had borrowed the scarecrow's long
coat and high hat. He took off that long coat, buttoned it over the
plaster bosom of the scarecrow, and replaced the hat. Then he slipped
on his jacket and rejoined Dorothy.

She was still looking at the sapphires with an air of admiration. He bent over them and said: "Keep them, Dorothy. You know quite well that I'm not really a thief and that I only got them for you ... that you might have the pleasure of looking at them and touching them.... It often goes to my heart to see you running about in that beggarly get-up!... To think of you dancing on the tight-rope! You who ought to live in luxury!... Ah, to think of all I'd do for you, if you'd let me!"

She raised her head, looked into his eyes, and said: "Would you really do anything for me?"
"Anything, Dorothy."
"Well, then, be honest, Saint-Quentin."

They set out again; and the young girl continued: "Be honest, Saint-Quentin. That's all I ask of you. You and the other boys of the caravan, I've adopted you because, like me, you're war-orphans, and for the last two years we have wandered together along the high roads, happy rather than miserable, getting our fun, and on the whole, eating when we're hungry. But we must come to an understanding. I only like what is clean and straight and as clear as a ray of sunlight. Are you like me? This is the third time you've stolen to give me pleasure. Is this the last time? If it is, I pardon it. If it isn't, it's 'good-bye.'"

She spoke very seriously, emphasizing each phrase by a toss of the head which made the two wings of her hair flap. Overwhelmed, Saint-Quentin said imploringly: "Don't you want to have anything more to do with me?"
"Yes. But swear you won't do it again."
"I swear I 

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