“No,” returned Bazilio, abruptly. “If you are crazy, I am not.”
“Oh, what will become of me! what will become of me!” she exclaimed, throwing herself on the sofa and covering her face with her hands. Her bosom was convulsed by sobs that she vainly sought to repress.
Bazilio sat down beside her. These tears annoyed him and made him impatient.
“But for Heaven’s sake listen to me!” he said.
She turned her eyes, that flashed through their tears, full upon him.
“Why did you say to me that we might be so happy if I only wished?”
Bazilio rose abruptly.
“But was it your intention to travel with me in a railway-car to Paris?”
“I have left my home forever.”
“It would be better for you to return to it, then,” he exclaimed angrily. “Why do you want to run away? To avoid scandal? But in doing so we should give greater scandal, irreparable scandal. I speak to you as your best friend, Luiza.” And he added, taking her hands affectionately in his, “Do you think it would not make me happy to have you come with me to Paris? But I know the world, and I know what the consequences of such a step would be. All this scandal may be avoided with money. Do you suppose the woman has left the house for the purpose of betraying you? It is to her interest to disappear. She knows very well that She has robbed you by means of false keys. The question is, to purchase her silence.”