"Care? Do you ask a girl whether she could remain unmoved, uninterested, indifferent, if the man she cares for most falls in love with her?"
"Could you—respond?"
"Respond? With love? I don't know. How can I tell? I believe that I have never been in love in all my life. I don't know what it feels like. You might as well ask somebody born blind to read an ordinary book.... But one thing is certain: if that ever happens to you, you ought to tell me. Will you?"
"What good would it do?"
"What harm would it do?" she asked frankly.
"Suppose, knowing we could not marry, I made love to you, Athalie?"
Suddenly the smile flashed in her eyes: "Do you think I'm a baby, Clive? Suppose, knowing what we know, you did make love to me? Is that very dreadful?"
"My responsibility would be."
"The responsibility is mine. I'm my own mistress. If I chose to be yours the responsibility is mine—"
"Don't say such things, Athalie!"