I still knelt at her side in silence, and my head felt as if the vessels in it were bursting....
'You know,' she went on quite calmly, 'one cannot love for ever.'
'But I love you, Giulia; I love you with all my heart and soul! I have had loves picked up for the opportunity's sake, or for pure idleness; but my love for you is different. I swear to you it is a matter of my whole life.'
'That has been said to me so often....'
I was beginning to be overwhelmed.
'But do you mean that it is all finished? Do you mean that you won't have anything more to do with me!'
'I don't say I won't have anything more to do with you.'
'But love? It is love I want.'
She shrugged her shoulders.
'But why not?' I said despairingly. 'Why have you given it me at all if you want to take it away?'