"But just now you said perhaps…. Ah! you see you do not love me!"
"Well then: all the better for you."
"Because …?"
"Because if I loved you when you loved some one else it might turn out badly for you, me, and him."
"Then!… Now you are mad. Then I am condemned to stay with you all my life?"
"Be calm. You are free. You shall leave me when you like. Only it will not be au revoir: it will be good-bye."
"But if I still love you?"
"When people love, they sacrifice themselves to each other."
"Well, then … sacrifice yourself!"
He could not help laughing at her egoism: and she laughed too.