"I agreed," she replied, "to your yielding your place to your confrère. I have allowed Dr. Desrioux to attend almost exclusively upon my husband."
"I was anxious that it should be so. You had not seen Desrioux for a long time, and I effaced myself so as to allow you to be often with him and hear all he had to say."
"Do you imagine," she exclaimed, "that he has spoken of his love?"
"There was no necessity for him to speak. He proved it to you by coming after you."
"And do you think," she continued, "that I can still now—"
She stopped; she dared not go on.
He put her thought into words.
"Do you think I can still love him? is what you wished to say. Yes, I do think so; I am convinced of it. You love him, and you do not any longer love your husband."
"It is untrue! It is untrue," she said, hiding her face in her hands.
"It is true," he replied. "You know very well that it is true, and you are suffering more than ever. It is simply my conviction on this score which has caused me no longer to attend upon your husband."