, or else
because at first they think they need it and later on will not confess
they were mistaken? One should not be an artist save when one absolutely
cannot keep to oneself the feeling one has--only when one has too much
feeling. But Luce said she possessed just enough for one. She went on:

"No, for two."

(Because he made a face at her.)

The lovely golden tints in the sky began to turn to brown. The deserted
plain put on a disconsolate mask. Pierre asked Luce if she was not
afraid in that solitude.

"No."

"When you get home late?"

"There is no danger. The Apaches don't come here. They have their own
customs. They are _bourgeois_, too. Besides, we have over there an old
ragpicker, and his dog. And besides, I have no fear. Oh, I'm not
boasting about myself! I have no merit at all in it. I am not courageous
naturally. Only, I have not as yet had any occasion to meet with real
fear. The day I do see it, perhaps I shall be more of a poltroon than
the next one. Does one ever know what one really is?"

"Well, I for my part know what you are," quoth Pierre.

"Ah, that is much easier. I myself likewise, I know ... as to you! One
always knows better about another."

The moist chill of evening entered the room through the closed windows.
Pierre felt a little shudder. Luce, who perceived it at once on his
neck, ran to make him a cup of chocolate, which she heated on her
spirit-lamp. They took a bit of food. Luce had thrown her shawl
maternally over Pierre's shoulders; and he let her do it like a cat
enjoying the warmth of the stuff. Once more the current of their
thoughts brought them back to the family history which Luce had
interrupted.

Pierre continued:

"Both of you all alone, so entirely alone, you and your mother: you must
be deeply attached to one another."

"Yes," said Luce. "We were very much attached."

"_Were?_" repeated Pierre.

"Oh!" said Luce, "we always love each other;" still somewhat embarrassed
by the word which had escaped her without thinking. (Why must she always
tell him more than she meant to? And nevertheless he did not ask, he
dared not ask her. But she saw that his heart was putting the question.
And it's so nice to confide in someone when one has never had the
chance! The silence of the house, the half-shade of the room encouraged
her to confess.) She observed:

"There's no saying or knowing what has been going on for the last four
years. The whole world is changed."

"You