Her refusal was becoming less positive: this persual imposed no obligation upon her.
"You will find there the complaint I am going to formulate against you in my brief."
She was astonished, and blushed, which gave her face the expression of a young girl about to make her début.
"I thought," she said, "that Albert was going to make no defense."
This noticeable anxiety aroused Philippe Lagier, whose reply was not without a touch of cruelty.
"He will make so good a defense that he will sue for a divorce—not separation."
"Ah," she murmured, and the color which had overspread her cheeks faded quickly.
He immediately regretted having tormented her. Was Albert's viewpoint so definite that he had a right to use it as a threat? And had he not decided to play a double rôle, in order to decline to take part in the trial?
"Does he wish to marry her?" she asked weakly.
"I do not know."