"Barabant, are you there?"
"Here I am."
He sprang eagerly to meet her, but Nicole, retreating before the decisive word, hastened to say:
"Poor girl, it is not going well. Geneviève is staying with her. Have you been waiting long?"
"I? No. I was talking with Goursac. He has just left." Barabant, determined to bring matters to an issue, added relentlessly, "I was just leaving for the cabaret."
"What! you were not waiting for me?"
"I could not count on your coming."
Nicole's eyes filled with tears, and, unable any longer to bear the unequal contest, she cried bitterly:
"Barabant, you are cruel!"
"I?" he answered, with a last effort. "I who have offered you everything? I whom you will not believe when I tell you I love you?"