"I must! I must! I promised to!... And I was right to promise! And I will keep my oath! What you call deserting is fighting, but fighting the real fight! I too am going to wage war, but it will be the war of independence and brains; and my comrades in heroism are waiting for me. There, Marthe, I won't listen to you any longer!"
She glued her back to the door, with her arms outstretched:
"And the children! The children whom you are abandoning!"
"You will send them to me later."
She raised her hand:
"Never, I swear it on their heads, never shall you set eyes on them again! The sons of a deserter!... They will disown you!"
"They will love me, if they understand."
"I will teach them not to understand you."
"If they do not understand me, it is I who will disown them. So much the worse for them!"
He took her by the shoulders and tried to push her away. And, when Marthe resisted, he jostled her, exasperated by the fear of the unforeseen obstacle that might spring up, the arrival of his mother, perhaps the apparition of old Morestal himself.