“You will not hold me by force,” she cried, and with unnatural strength freed herself, and sought to dash past him.
But he put his arm round her waist, took her to the bench, and sat down beside her.
“How rough and rude!” she cried.
“I cannot hold you back by force, Vera. I may be saving you from ruin.”
“Can I be ruined against my own will?”
“It is against your will; yet you go to your ruin.”
“There is no question of ruin. We must see one another again in order to separate.”
“It is not necessary to see one another in order to separate.”
“I must, and will. An hour or a day later, it is all the same. You may call the servants, the whole town, a file of soldiers, but no power will keep me back.”
A second shot resounded.