It was the calm and limpid hour that follows the sunset. Above our heads, the foliage was motionless. From time to time a flock of swallows rapidly cleft the air with a sound of beating wings, with piercing cries, as at the Lilacs.
Our eyes followed the sainted woman as long as she was visible; then we looked at one another, silently, in consternation. We remained for several minutes without breaking the silence, crushed by the immensity of our sorrow. And then, with a terrible effort of my entire being, making an abstraction of Juliana, I felt the little creature living alone at my side, as if, at that moment, no other creature existed near me, had existed around me. And it was not an illusory sensation, but a real and profound sensation. A thrill of horror ran through all my fibres; I started violently and fixed my eyes on my companion's face in order to dissipate the sensation. We looked at one another, without knowing what to say or do to combat the excess of our anguish. I saw in her face the reflection of my distress, I divined my own physiognomy. My eyes turned instinctively toward her body; and I perceived on her face the same expression of terror exhibited by invalids afflicted by a monstrous infirmity, when one looks at the member deformed by an incurable malady.
After a pause, during which we both tried in vain to measure our suffering, she said, in a low voice:
"Have you thought that this may endure as long as we live?"
My lips remained closed; it was only within myself that was heard the determined answer:
"No, it will not last."
She went on:
"Remember that, with a single word, you can solve the difficulty and free yourself. I am ready. Remember."
I still remained silent, but I thought: "No, it is not you who must die."
She went on, in a voice that tearful tenderness rendered trembling: