"Why are you smiling?"
"I was sure that you thought so." Annette, turning her eyes upon him, asked:
"Tell me, now, what I seem like to you?"
"I should teach you nothing."
"You will help me to see more clearly."
"You are," Marcel said to her, "an amorous rebel. Perpetually amorous (forgive me!) and perpetually rebellious. You feel the need of giving yourself, and you feel the need of withholding yourself. . . ."
(Annette could not conceal a slight start.)
"I shock you?"
"No, no, quite the contrary! How true it is! Go on! Tell me some more. . . ."
"You are," Marcel continued, "an independent who cannot remain alone. It is the law of nature. You feel it more keenly, because you are more alive."