"You remember that, d'you hear?" she demanded. "You can kill a man, and if you've any sort of reason everybody may forgive. But if you're untrue to your husband—it doesn't make any difference how much reason you have—every-body'll kick you...."
[CHAPTER XIV]
SIC ITUR AD AVERNO
Jacqueline fumbled in the box for another cigarette and held it, unlighted, in her hand as she went on.
"I don't remember much what happened for the next few hours after that. I must have found my way back to Paris somehow, because while it was still dark I was standing at the edge of an embankment looking into the Seine.
"It was raining and my clothes were wet through and through. I didn't know what I was doing or how I got there. A light on the other side threw a reflection across, almost to my feet; and, as I looked down, I saw my baby in the water!"
Her voice had dropped until it was barely audible across the room, and she leaned toward Marie, her eyes shining with an insane light.
"I s'pose you think I'm crazy, eh? Couldn't have seen? Well, you don't know all about babies, my girl!
"D'you ever see your baby in the river?" she demanded, with hoarse fierceness. The girl's only reply was a dry sob and a shudder.