ering, she again turned towards him
imploringly.

"I beg you to be good and not hurry me too much, but wait awhile. I
would so gladly obey you, in order to prove to you my love; I would like
above all to go away on your arm to that beautiful far-away country,
where we could live royally in the castle of your dreams. It seems to me
an easy thing to do, so often have I myself planned our flight. Yet now,
what shall I say to you? It appears to me quite an impossibility; it
is as if a door had suddenly been walled up between us and prevented me
from going out."

He wished to try to fascinate her again, but she quieted him with a
movement of her hands.

"No; do not say anything more. It is very singular, but in proportion
as you utter such sweet, such tender words, which ought to convince me,
fear takes possession of me and chills me to the heart. My God! What is
the matter with me? It is really that which you say which drives me from
you. If you continue, I can no longer listen to you; you will be obliged
to go away. Yet wait--wait a little longer!"

She walked very slowly about the room, anxiously seeking to resume her
self-control, while he looked at her in despair.

"I thought to have loved you no longer; but it was certainly only a
feeling of pique, since just now, as soon as I found you again at my
feet, my heart beat rapidly, and my first impulse was to follow you as
if I were your slave. Then, if I love you, why am I afraid of you? What
is it that prevents me from leaving this room, as if invisible hands
were holding me back by my whole body, and even by each hair of my
head?"

She had stopped near her bed; then she went as far as the wardrobe, then
to the different articles of furniture, one after the other. They all
seemed united to her person by invisible ties. Especially the walls of
the room, the grand whiteness of the mansard roof, enveloped her with
a robe of purity, that she could leave behind her only with tears; and
henceforth all this would be a part of her being; the spirit of her
surroundings had entered into her. And she realised this fact stronger
than ever when she found herself opposite her working-frame, which was
resting at the side of the table under the lamplight. Her heart softened
as she saw the half-made rose, which she would never finish were she to
go away in this secret, criminal manner. The years of work were brought
back to her mind: those quiet, happy years, during which life had