“Margot,” he said savagely, “if you don’t say yes, I’ll strangle you right here. Say yes.”
“Is it to save my life I must say yes?”
“Your life—and mine.”
“Well, if it’s to save yours, too.... Yes!”
The tension was over. He rose. He was radiant. He laughed.
“I’ll see the British Consul to-morrow; and we’ll get hitched up in a few days. Now I’m going. I want to be alone, to realize my happiness, to sing to the stars. I want to celebrate, to get drunk. Margot, may I get drunk to-night?”
“What!”
“With joy I mean. I want to sit in a café by myself and let my happiness soak in gradually. I want to smile like an idiot over a café crême and have people look at me twice, and say, ‘Mais ... il est fou, ce gars la....’ I want to laugh loudly at the moon, and dance the can-can by the Carpeaux fountain. Oh Margot, Margot....”
Down in the street a passing sergent de ville who happened to look up at the lighted mansard window, saw two separate shadows on the blind. The masculine shadow reached out to the feminine one, then the two shadows became one.
“Ah! Ces amoureux!” he remarked with a shrug as he went on his way.