But Gabriel pushed her away in terror. "Away!" he cried; "no, no! leave me, flee from me!"
"Oh, mon Dieu!" moaned Diane, letting her arms fall by her side. "Mon Dieu! he repels me; he loves me not!"
"I love you too well!" said Gabriel.
"If you love me, why should my proffered caresses be so terrible to you?"
"Are they really terrible to me, then?" said Gabriel to himself. "Is it my instinct which repels them, and not my reason? Oh, come, Diane, let me see you and know you, and feel your presence! Come, and let me press my lips on your brow with a brother's kiss, in which a betrothed lover may indulge himself."
He strained Diane to his heart, and pressed a long burning kiss on her hair.
"Ah, I deceived myself!" cried he, in rapture at her very touch. "It is not the voice of blood which is crying to you from my heart; it is the voice of love! I know it! Oh, what bliss!"
"What did you say, dear?" replied Diane. "If you say that you love me, you say all that I care to hear or to know."
"Oh, indeed I love you, blessed angel; I love you passionately, madly! Yes, I love you, and to feel your heart beating against mine, like this, is very heaven to me; or is it hell?" cried he, suddenly, releasing himself from her embrace. "Away, away! let me fly, for I am accursed!"
And he fled wildly from the room, leaving Diane dumb with terror, and as if turned to stone by despair.