Her tranquil, careless look returned.
“Then leave me to my fate!”
“No! I will not do that! You, ruined on my account, when— Will you torture my thoughts by the frightful memory of the past?”
“Oh, Marcel, if I could only please you! If you would only love me! How dearly I would pay you for such happiness!”
She smiled. Tears filled her eyes, and she looked so beautiful that a shudder ran through his whole body. Turning aside, he said—
“Wretched woman! what will become of you?”
She showed him a ring, the bezel of which was made of a bead of chased gold.
“Look at this bead of gold; it contains liberty and death at the same time. Pour its contents into a glass of water, and all is over, without suffering.”
She stretched out her hand towards a tray containing a bowl of water and a glass.
“I forbid you!” cried Marcel, dismayed.