“You will come to see me again?”
“Oh, no, no!... But perhaps I must. But I cannot think of that now. Good-night, Onias.”
“You are satisfied? You have enough money for what you need?”
“You have given me more than I expected,” she said innocently.
“And you do like me a bit?”
“How can I say I like you? Indeed, I ought to hate you, but that would be unreasonable. But, Onias.... Let me go.”
“You are free to come and go as you please. If you wish to see me again in the evening of any day, come to the café. If I am not there, I shall be here and shall be very, very happy to receive you.”
He opened the door and offered her the box of chocolates. Gently shaking her head, she refused his present.
“Au revoir, Lucette,” he called softly when she was half-way down the pathway.
But though he listened very carefully, he did not hear her voice. Indeed, by this time he was no longer in her thoughts. The three twenty-five drachma notes he had given her were crushed into a ball in one of her cold and trembling hands.