Ragna was silent.
"But that is not the message I was told to deliver. He wishes to offer you compensation,—any sum you care to name."
"Compensation! To me!" Ragna half rose from her chair.
"Wait! wait! I beg of you! It is an insult, I know that—but it is not from me, it is an order. I had to get it over! Oh, don't!"
Ragna had dropped her face in her hands and was weeping as though her heart were broken, but the tears were of rage rather than of grief.
"Compensation! How dare he!"
"Listen, Mademoiselle, listen! Ragna, don't cry like that! Listen to what I have to say to you! That was my official message, but this is what I really come to say." His face was pale and his eyes blazed. "Ragna I have loved you ever since we first met,—I love you still—"
She interrupted him with an hysterical laugh.
"What, you too! This is too funny!"
"Ragna, don't! I love you—"