"You do not ...?"
"I no longer love him."
"Then you never loved him."
"What do you mean?"
"To love when someone loves you, when one spares you every struggle, every annoyance, smoothes your life for you like a wide road where nothing stumbles across your way, that is a simple matter! How does one prove one's love? To love when one is deserted, forgotten, left alone, struggling with every difficulty, or even when one's heart is trampled upon,—yes, that is indeed to love."
"That is to lower oneself. I have my pride, my dignity—everyone understands it for oneself in a different way."
And convinced of her own right, she asked:
"Is this the mission with which my husband has entrusted you?"
Almost roughly, as if he took an unconscious delight in ill-treating her, he answered:
"No, Madame. Albert gave me no mission of reconciliation."