"Swear to me that you have been faithful."
"I swear."
"Gabriel Lombardi"?
"I can't abide him".
"Ah, if I had never told you to lie to me—fool that I was."
Then she said calmly, with that deep conviction which always moved him: "Ben, when you asked me that, I told you I would never lie. I have told you the truth. No man has ever had the pressure of my fingers, and no man ever will."
So intense had been his emotion that he had almost a paroxysm. When he opened his eyes he found her face wet with tears.
"Ah, Madeleine," he said, "I am brutal with you. I cannot help it."
"I would not have you love me differently," she said gently, and through her tears he seemed to see a faint, elusive smile, that was gone quickly if it was ever there at all.
Another time, he said to himself: "No, I will say nothing. She will come to me herself, put her arms around me, and tell me with a smile that no other thought has been in her heart all this while. That's it. If I wait she will make the move, she will make the move each time—and that will be much better."