Julien did not notice a detail which would have greatly reassured him; Madame de Renal, who had been obliged to remove her hand from his, on rising to help her cousin to pick up a pot of flowers which the wind had overturned at their feet, had no sooner sat down again than she gave him back her hand almost without difficulty, and as though it had been an understood thing between them.
Julien ne remarqua pas une circonstance qui l’eût bien rassuré : Mme de Rênal, qui avait été obligée de lui ôter sa main, parce qu’elle se leva pour aider sa cousine à relever un vase de fleurs que le vent venait de renverser à leurs pieds, fut à peine assise de nouveau, qu’elle lui rendit sa main presque sans difficulté, et comme si déjà c’eût été entre eux une chose convenue.