“Kill yourself!” she cried, flinging herself at his feet and clasping them.
But he, wishing to escape the embrace, tried to shake her off, dragging her in so doing toward the bed.
“Let me alone,” he said.
“No, no, Jules!” she cried. “If you love me no longer I shall die. Do you wish to know all?”
“Yes.”
He took her, grasped her violently, and sat down on the edge of the bed, holding her between his legs. Then, looking at that beautiful face now red as fire and furrowed with tears,—
“Speak,” he said.
Her sobs began again.
“No; it is a secret of life and death. If I tell it, I—No, I cannot. Have mercy, Jules!”
“You have betrayed me—”