"Was it to break my heart that you summoned me here to-night?" he cried.
"I can never be your wife," repeated Carmen, "because only an unstained woman should bear your name!"
Goutran turned deadly pale.
"And I," she continued, "am not such a woman!"
"Ah! Mademoiselle, I cannot understand you."
"Listen to me. Every word I speak I have thoroughly weighed, and I understand my duty. I hope my frankness will at least win your esteem, and possibly your pity."
"My pity! Ah! Carmen, for God's sake do not say such things!"
"I have not finished. Goutran, I love you, deeply and sincerely. Your character, your talents, all inspire me, for the first time in my life, with those sentiments which tend to elevate us. Before knowing you I passed through life knowing little, and caring little, of what was right or what was wrong."
Tears were now pouring down her cheeks.
"I am not the daughter," she sobbed, "I am not the daughter, I am the friend, of Monsieur de Laisangy!"