"Why do you speak low?"
"Because what I was saying cannot be said out loud,--not yet, at least."
"But later?"
"Ah! later, perhaps--"
The young man in turn moved his lips, and made no sound.
"What does that pantomime mean?" asked Bertha.
"It means that I can speak below my breath as you do, with this difference, that what I say low I am ready to say out loud and instantly,--at this very moment if I dared--"
"I am not a woman like other women," said Bertha, with an almost disdainful smile; "and what is said to me in a low voice may equally well be said aloud."
"Well then, what I was saying below my breath was this; I grieve to see you flinging yourself into danger,--danger as certain as it is useless."
"What danger are you talking about, my dear neighbor?" said the girl, in a slightly mocking tone.