“M. de Richelieu——” he began.
“Let M. de Richelieu be!” answered Carola. “It is you who have punished me most.”
“I?” he questioned.
“You—to-night—when I was lonely as the damned—and facing death and hell—and you would not kiss me.”
Luc looked at her steadily.
“You have cast my heart alive to the swine,” she said, in a trembling voice, “and God will remember it against you.”
He caught her meaning through a confusion of pain. He realized his own self-absorption; he saw, suddenly and very vividly, her point of view.
“You think I hold you in contempt?” he said hoarsely.
“Why not?” she answered. “Why not?”
Luc shook his head.