Therese had given way, uttering hollow groans.

She was choking on the neck of Laurent.
When she had freed herself from his hands, she violently wiped her mouth, and spat in the fire.

She had not said a word.
Laurent, ashamed of his brutality, began walking slowly from the bed to the window.

Suffering alone--the horrible burn--had made him exact a kiss from Therese, and when her frigid lips met the scorching scar, he felt the pain more acutely.

This kiss obtained by violence had just crushed him.