Do you begin to understand, little Joan ?" "No," she said.
"I will explain it to you, then.

You are very young and have been very thoughtless.

You haven't stopped to think that you have been playing with a soul as well as a heart.

I have brought you here to-night to face things up simply and quietly and finally, and leave it to you to make a choice." "A choice ?" "Yes, between life with me or death in my arms." III All that was healthy and normal in Joan broke into revolt.

There was something erotic, uncanny about all this.