at length, she told him her entire life, the little
that she had put into it; the sadness of the past; and how, since he had
known her, she had lived only through him and in him.

The words fell as limpid as her look. She sat near him. He listened to
her with bitter avidity. Cruel with himself, he wished to know everything
about her last meetings with the other. She reported faithfully the
events of the Great Britain Hotel; but she changed the scene to the
outside, in an alley of the Casino, from fear that the image of their sad
interview in a closed room should irritate her lover. Then she explained
the meeting at the station. She had not wished to cause despair to a
suffering man who was so violent. But since then she had had no news from
him until the day when he spoke to her on the street. She repeated what
she had replied to him. Two days later she had seen him at the opera, in
her box. Certainly, she had not encouraged him to come. It was the truth.

It was the truth. But the old poison, slowly accumulating in his mind,
burned him. She made the past, the irreparable past, present to him, by
her avowals. He saw images of it which tortured him. He said:

"I do not believe you."

And he added:

"And if I believed you, I could not see you again, because of the idea
that you have loved that man. I have told you, I have written to you, you
remember, that I did not wish him to be that man. And since--"

He stopped.

She said:

"You know very well that since then nothing has happened."

He replied, with violence:

"Since then I have seen him."

They remained silent for a long time. Then she said, surprised and
plaintive:

"But, my friend, you should have thought that a woman such as I, married
as I was--every day one sees women bring to their lovers a past darker
than mine and yet they inspire love. Ah, my past--if you knew how
insignificant it was!"

"I know what you can give. One can not forgive to you what one may
forgive to another."

"But, my friend, I am like others."

"No, you are not like others. To you one can not forgive anything."

He talked with set teeth. His eyes, which she had seen so large, glowing
with tenderness, were now dry, harsh, narrowed between wrinkled lids and
cast a new glance at her. He frightened her. She went to the rear of the
room, sat on a chair, and there she remained, trembling, for a long time,
smothered by her sobs. Then she broke into tears.

He sighed:

"Why d