"You said that at Pont-sur-Loire it would be so easy to meet. You said that between the hours of luncheon and dinner there were two trains up and two down from The Pines to Pont-sur-Loire, and that I could get away so easily, as the Juzencourts never went out except to pay calls at the various country-houses in the neighbourhood, or to follow the paper chases. On my arrival here I found that all these details were perfectly exact."
"Yes, but it really is not so easy as I had imagined."
"Ah, Jean! instead of trying to deceive me in this way, it would be much better to tell me the truth."
"And the truth, according to you, is that I no longer care for you?"
"Yes, that is a part of the truth."
"And," he asked, somewhat uneasily, "the rest?"—
"Is, that you are in love with Mademoiselle de Courtaix. Ah, do not deny it! it is so evident!" And then, after a moment's silence, she added: "And so natural!"
"Do you forgive me?"
"I have nothing to forgive. I have never demanded anything from you, and you have never, never promised me anything. When I first began to care for you, I was not a widow; you must therefore have judged me severely, as a man nearly always does judge the woman who is weak enough to care for him when she ought not to."
"I swear to you—"