“Carinne!” I cried, choking and half-sobbing; “is it thou indeed?”
“Creep through the little hole,” she said, “and thou shalt see.”
I laughed and I cried in a single breath.
“Say what thou wilt, ma fillette. Yes, I will call thee as I choose. Didst thou hear but now? I think it is a dying man that speaks to thee. Carinne, say after all you keep a place in your heart for the little odd Thibaut.”
“Insidious! thou wouldst seek to devour the whole, like a little worm in a gall.”
“To hear your voice again! We are always shadows to one another now. As a shadow I swear that I love you dearly. Oh, ma mie, ma mie, I love you so dearly. And why were you cruel to leave me for that small gust of temper I soon repented of? Carinne! My God! she is gone away!”
“I am here, little Thibaut.”
“There is a sound in your voice. Oh, this savage unyielding wall! I will kiss it a foot above the trap. Will you do the same on the other side?”
“Monsieur forgets himself, I think.”
“He is light-headed with joy. But he never forgets Mademoiselle de Lâge—not though she punished him grievously for an indifferent offence in the forests of Chalus.”