"What of?"
"I don't know.... You may forgive me, but I will torment myself to death.... Oh, Rita, darling, why didn't you kill me straight away? It would have been better to make an end of it!"
"Nonsense! All will be forgiven and forgotten if only one lives and loves. And you do love me, don't you—more than before?"
"More, much more! I love you dreadfully, that's why I will die—because I love you so. You know, Rita, if one loves very much, one cannot live, it's too great a joy...."
"It was after that you got to love me so?" Rita asked, with slight mockery.
Instead of answering Maki hid her face on Rita's breast and burst into tears.
"There, that will do," Rita said, drily. "It is time to go home—see what heavy dew there is."
She took her by the arms and again led her along carefully like a nurse.
They went indoors. Rita put her sister to bed and sat down beside her, waiting for her to go to sleep.
"Don't go," Maki begged.