"I love you so! Don't be too cruel to me!"
Taking a step towards him, her lips curling back from her clenched teeth, she hissed into his ear:
"It's all over, over, over! You hear me? I am fed up with you."
Then, very gently and solemnly, he said:
"It is the last time that we two shall speak together. Listen, Félicie, before there is a tragedy I ought to warn you. I cannot compel you to love me. But I do not intend that you shall love another. For the last time I advise you not to see Monsieur de Ligny again, I shall prevent your belonging to him."
"You will prevent me? You? My poor dear fellow!"
In a still more gentle tone he replied:
"I mean it; I shall do it. A man can get what he wants; only he must pay the price."