“God help us now! Why, it is the month of May—and the sun is shining——”
“It is the truth, Marpasse. How can I—I——? Look; it all happened here! How can I put that out of my heart?”
Marpasse stretched out a hand and touched her.
“Come, come, look at the sun, not at the shadows.”
“It is not in me—to forget everything.”
“Even that the man loves you?”
Denise turned on her suddenly with eyes full of a fierce light.
“Yes, and should I take his love, I—who cannot go to him as a woman should! It is not in my heart, Marpasse, whatever you may say. God help me, but I love him better than that!”
Her passion spent itself, and she lay down in the grass, covering her face, and trying to hide a rush of tears. Marpasse bent over her, moved by great pity, and yet impatient with Denise for pulling so simple a thread into a tangle. But Denise would not listen to Marpasse. She was even angry with her own tears.
“No, no—let me be; I am a fool; it will soon pass.”