"Do you mean to say that is the reason?"
"Oh, isn't it sufficient——"
"No. If you cared for me it would be no reason at all."
She cried bitterly. "But I don't," she sobbed. "Not like that—not in that way. It is atrocious of me not to—I know how good you are, how kind, how—how everything. And still I don't. I don't know why I don't, but I don't. Oh, Axel, I am so sorry—don't look so wretched—I can't bear it."
"But what can it matter to you how I look if you don't care about me?"
"Oh, oh," sobbed Anna, wringing her hands.
He caught hold of her wrist. "See here, Anna. Look at me."
But she would not look at him.
"Look at me. I don't believe you know your own mind. I want to see into your eyes. They were always honest—look at me."
But she would not look at him.