“If I were your friend, your relation, I would say you are killing yourself, and would prevent you from continuing this wretched life.”
“Bah! you could not prevent me; but tell me, why are you yourself so pale?”
“I am sorry, perhaps, as I look upon you.”
“You are very gentle; you see the others take no notice of me—”
“Perhaps—perhaps they do not love you as I do, lady.”
“Ah! I forgot, this grand secret love of yours.”
“You are laughing at me, lady.”
“No, no—no, no—not laughing; I have heard the same declaration so often that I do not laugh at it.”
“Ah! well, make some return for it, so take care of your health.”
“Take care of my health, my friend! If I did, I should die at once. Bah! I can but live in this feverish life. Truly, good women, with families and friends, may seek quiet and rest, not such as I. The moment we cease to attract, we are alone, and our days then are so long, so long. Did I not keep my bed two months? At the end of the third week my last visitor came to see me!”