She uttered loud, hysterical cries, twisting herself against the chair; her eyes stared distractedly out of her face; her hair hung loose about her cheeks; her features were pale and distorted.
"It was after an evening when he had been playing in the circus ... and Eduard ... Eduard...."
"I know, I know.... Hush, Emilie!"
"He waited for him ... in the passage in front of the house where we lived ... and ... and he called him names ... they quarrelled.... Then ... then he stabbed him ... with a knife!"
"Hush, Emilie, hush!"
But she screamed it out: her screeches rang through the room. She wriggled like a madwoman against his knees; he stroked her dishevelled hair, to quiet her.
"Oh, your parents, your dear parents, Addie: they never asked me anything!... They came and fetched me: oh, Addie, that journey home, with his coffin between us, oh, those formalities at the frontiers!... Oh, Addie, your dear parents: they saved me: I was mad, I was mad, I was mad at that time! Now it's all coming back to me; I can't keep it to myself any longer!... You see, he waited for him, they began quarrelling about me and ... suddenly they were like two wild animals! Henri rushed at him ... and then Eduard stabbed him with his knife! The villain, the villain! He has been missing since then; I have never seen him again; only at night, at night I see him with his knife! Oh, Addie, Addie, help me!"
He gripped her by the arms with all his might and sought to control her; but she resisted. She was like a madwoman; in the sultry summer heat she was overmastered by the day-long vision that loomed up regularly with the first balmy warmth of spring. She was like a madwoman; she saw everything before her eyes; she lived the past over again.
"Nobody has ever known, Addie, except you, except you!"
"Hush, Emilie, hush!"