"And perhaps while I am gone Jacques may come for a visit."
"Perhaps. Run along. The air will do you good."
The girl kissed the wrinkled forehead and hurried to her own room. There, before the mirror, she was forced to ask herself the question which she had tried to escape: "Why are you going?"
"Because if Ben were there and sick, he might need me!"
"Why are you going?"
The woman in the mirror was relentless.
"Because the house here is so full of shadows."
"Why are you going?"
"Because the sun will give me strength."
"Why are you going?"