第60章

“Youthinkso？“shesaid，drawingnearer，andshesighed。“Oh，Rodolphe!ifyoubutknew!Ilovedyouso!“

Itwasthenthatshetookhishand，andtheyremainedsometime，theirfingersintertwined，likethatfirstdayattheShow。Withagestureofpridehestruggledagainstthisemotion。Butsinkinguponhisbreastshesaidtohim——

“HowdidyouthinkIcouldlivewithoutyou？Onecannotlosethehabitofhappiness。Iwasdesolate。IthoughtIshoulddie。I

willtellyouaboutallthatandyouwillsee。Andyou——youfledfromme!“

For，allthethreeyears，hehadcarefullyavoidedherinconsequenceofthatnaturalcowardicethatcharacterisesthestrongersex。Emmawenton，withdaintylittlenods，morecoaxingthananamorouskitten——

“Youloveothers，confessit!Oh，Iunderstandthem，dear!I

excusethem。Youprobablyseducedthemasyouseducedme。Youareindeedaman；youhaveeverythingtomakeoneloveyou。Butwe’llbeginagain，won’twe？Wewillloveoneanother。See!Iamlaughing；Iamhappy!Oh，speak!“

Andshewascharmingtosee，withhereyes，inwhichtrembledatear，liketherainofastorminabluecorolla。

Hehaddrawnheruponhisknees，andwiththebackofhishandwascaressinghersmoothhair，whereinthetwilightwasmirroredlikeagoldenarrowonelastrayofthesun。Shebentdownherbrow；atlasthekissedherontheeyelidsquitegentlywiththetipsofhislips。

“Why，youhavebeencrying!Whatfor？“

Sheburstintotears。Rodolphethoughtthiswasanoutburstofherlove。Asshedidnotspeak，hetookthissilenceforalastremnantofresistance，andthenhecriedout——

“Oh，forgiveme!Youaretheonlyonewhopleasesme。Iwasimbecileandcruel。Iloveyou。Iwillloveyoualways。Whatisit。Tellme!“Hewaskneelingbyher。

“Well，Iamruined，Rodolphe!Youmustlendmethreethousandfrancs。“

“But——but——“saidhe，gettingupslowly，whilehisfaceassumedagraveexpression。

“Youknow，“shewentonquickly，“thatmyhusbandhadplacedhiswholefortuneatanotary’s。Heranaway。Soweborrowed；thepatientsdon’tpayus。Moreover，thesettlingoftheestateisnotyetdone；weshallhavethemoneylateron。Butto-day，forwantofthreethousandfrancs，wearetobesoldup。Itistobeatonce，thisverymoment，and，countinguponyourfriendship，I

havecometoyou。“

“Ah!“thoughtRodolphe，turningverypale，“thatwaswhatshecamefor。“Atlasthesaidwithacalmair——

“Dearmadame，Ihavenotgotthem。“

Hedidnotlie。Ifhehadhadthem，hewould，nodoubt，havegiventhem，althoughitisgenerallydisagreeabletodosuchfinethings：ademandformoneybeing，ofallthewindsthatblowuponlove，thecoldestandmostdestructive。

Firstshelookedathimforsomemoments。

“Youhavenotgotthem!“sherepeatedseveraltimes。“Youhavenotgotthem!Ioughttohavesparedmyselfthislastshame。Youneverlovedme。Youarenobetterthantheothers。“