'Is this a time to mince matters? Surely you loved me?'
'You—you were so fond of me, that I could not help liking you in return, Roland,' said she, trembling and confusedly; 'we were thrown so much together, and—and you see——'
'That I have been befooled!' he interrupted her with bitterness and a gust of anger.
'Do not use such a rough expression,' said she, recovering herself; 'and please don't allow listeners to think we are rehearsing for amateur theatricals.'
For a moment concentrated fury flashed in Roland's dark eyes.
Then he regarded her wistfully again, and his gust of anger gave way to an emotion of infinite tenderness.
'Annot,' he exclaimed, caressing her hands, on which, truth to tell, his hot tears dropped. 'Oh, my darling, tell me that you do not mean all this—that you are not in cruel earnest and oblivious of all the past.'
'I never loved you——'
'Never loved me?' said he hoarsely,
'As you wished to be; it was to serve my own ends—my own purpose that I simulated—then—so hate me if you can!'