“‘Ah! what does it matter?’
“Then, in a hoarse voice, she added,—
“‘Happiness awaits you, and a new life full of intoxicating hopes: it is quite natural that you should tremble. I, whose life is ended, and who have nothing to look for,—I, in whom you have killed every hope,—I am not afraid.’
“I saw her anger rising within her, and said very quietly,—
“‘I hope you do not repent of your generosity, Genevieve.’
“‘Perhaps I do,’ she replied, in an accent which made me tremble. ‘How you must laugh at me! What a wretched thing a woman is who is abandoned, who resigns, and sheds tears!’
“Then she went on fiercely,—
“‘Confess that you have never loved me really!’
“‘Ah, you know very well the contrary!’
“‘Still you abandon me for another,—for that Dionysia!’