She paused and then spoke out her thoughts.
“Paule loves you. Did you not understand that she was sacrificing herself for me?”
“For you?” he repeated. “How so?”
He looked attentively at Madame Guibert. His youth rebelled at the thought of defeat and already he was full of a new hope. Still she was not surprised that he had not guessed her meaning. She answered almost apologetically:
“Did you not tell her that you were leaving for Tonkin?”
“Yes, I did.”
“She did not want to go away from me, Jean. And that is why she left you in tears. But she loves you. Did not her tears tell you that?”
At last his own selfishness was clear to him, and he stood stupidly before the woman whose existence he had forgotten. He had been preparing to leave her in loneliness and yet a few minutes ago she had said nothing when he had asked her for the gift of her last child.
Madame Guibert repeated, as he maintained his silence: “She did not wish to leave me all alone.” And with a faint smile she added, “Does that surprise you, Jean?”
He was still silent, trying to master the feeling that was overwhelming him. The old lady went on in her gentle, resolute voice: