“One day Mariana brought me here and showed me this picture. I forget what was said, but somewhere in our conversation she laughed. She said laughing always produced a pain at her heart.”
“Mariana laughed? You utterly astonish me.”
His face betrayed no signs of conviction of cruelty, certainly.
“Yes,” said Rosalie. “It is astonishing, truly. Had I lived here as long as she, laughing would have been utterly beyond me.”
“It is a good thing you escaped, then.”
“You don’t grudge me my freedom?”
“I grudge no man anything if he wins it, or woman either. And far from grudging you your freedom, I’m glad you won it.”
“You were glad, then, when I ran away?”
“Well, no—not at the time. I do not know that I ever became thoroughly reconciled to you till you came to see me the other night.”
Here a pause followed, broken only by distant strains of music.