and your whole body. You have passed by all the scenes of our happiness
without seeing them or hearing them or feeling their presence. You have
done nothing but slip and stumble, and now you have fallen down here in
sheer weariness and boredom.... You love me no more.'

He protested, but in a gentle, quiet fashion. Then, for the first time,
she spoke out passionately.

'Be quiet! As if the garden could ever die! It will sleep for the
winter, but it will wake up again in May, and will restore to us all
the love we have entrusted to its keeping. Our kisses will blossom again
amongst the flower-beds, and our vows will bud again with the trees and
plants. If you could only see it and understand it, you would know that
it throbs with even deeper passion, and loves even more absorbingly at
this autumn-time, when it falls asleep in its fruitfulness.... But you
love me no more, and so you can no longer understand.'

He raised his eyes to her as if begging her not to be angry. His face
was pinched and pale with an expression of childish fear. The sound of
her voice made him tremble. He ended by persuading her to rest a little
while by his side. They could talk quietly and discuss matters. Then,
with the Paradou spreading out in front of them, they began to speak of
their love, but without even touching one another's fingers.

'I love you; indeed I love you,' said Serge, in his calm, quiet voice.
'If I did not love you, I should not be here: I should not have come.
I am very weary, it is true. I don't know why. I thought I should find
that pleasant warmth again, of which the mere memory was so delightful.
But I am cold, the garden seems quite black. I cannot see anything of
what I left here. But it is not my fault. I am trying hard to be as you
would wish me and to please you.'

'You love me no longer!' Albine repeated once more.

'Yes, I do love you. I suffered grievously the other day after I had
driven you away.... Oh! I loved you with such passion that, had you come
back and thrown yourself in my arms, I should almost have crushed you
to death.... And for hours your image remained present before me. When
I shut my eyes, you gleamed out with all the brightness of the sun and
threw a flame around me.... Then I trampled down every obstacle, and
came here.'

He remained silent for a moment, as if in thought. Then he spoke again:

'And now my arms feel as though they were broken. If I tried to clasp
you, I could not hold