“I have told you I must speak to you. Listen to me for a minute.”
She was thinking of Jacques, who was waiting for her. An occasional passer-by looked at her and went on his way. She stopped under the black branches of a tree, and waited with pity and fright in her soul.
He said:
“I forgive you and forget everything. Take me back. I will promise never to say a word of the past.”
She shuddered, and made a movement of surprise and distaste so natural that he stopped. Then, after a moment of reflection:
“My proposition to you is not an ordinary one, I know it well. But I have reflected. I have thought of everything. It is the only possible thing. Think of it, Therese, and do not reply at once.”
“It would be wrong to deceive you. I can not, I will not do what you say; and you know the reason why.”
A cab was passing slowly near them. She made a sign to the coachman to stop. Le Menil kept her a moment longer.
“I knew you would say this to me, and that is the reason why I say to you, do not reply at once.”
Her fingers on the handle of the door, she turned on him the glance of her gray eyes.