"Ah, Barabant, it was because I loved thee that I avoided thee."
"Why?"
His face expressed so much bewilderment that Nicole passed her hand gently over his eyes.
"No, that thou wilt never understand. If I could only tell thee how I love thee!" She wanted him to know the deep maternal longings that he had stirred within her, but all she found to say was, "I feared to love thee too much, and so I fought against myself." Then, with the first awakening of coquetry, she nestled on his shoulder and said confidently, "Forgive me."
"But why? Why?"
"It absorbed all that was in me, and I was afraid."
"Of what?"
She did not want to tell him of her doubts, so she said:
"Women have foolish ideas, Barabant; you must not try to understand them."
She joined her arms around his neck and laid her head upon his shoulder. Suddenly the silence was rent by the inexorable cry. In the heart of Nicole something penetrated like a knife. She began to tremble.