After the feverish enthusiasm which for several hours had carried them along with the others, this sudden halt and the solitude in which they found themselves side by side left them exhausted and bewildered as though they had suddenly awakened from a strange dream.

They felt as if a wave had cast them beside the highway, then ebbed back and left them stranded.

Irresistible reaction plunged them into listless stupor; they forgot their enthusiasm; they thought no more of the men whom they had to rejoin; they surrendered themselves to the melancholy sweetness of finding themselves alone, hand in hand, in the midst of the wild darkness.
"You are not angry with me ?" the girl at length inquired.

"I could easily walk the whole night with you; but they were running too quickly, I could hardly breathe." "Why should I be angry with you ?" the young man said.
"I don't know.

I was afraid you might not love me any longer.