It is my place to be on the ground." He rose, he trembled all over and stammered: "Will you allow me to kiss you ?" Overcome with surprise and emotion she could not speak, but she assented with a nod of the head.

After all she was his; he could do what he chose with her.

But he merely kissed her.
"That suffices between us, Madame Gervaise," he muttered.

"It sums up all our friendship, does it not ?" He had kissed her on the forehead, on a lock of her grey hair.

He had not kissed anyone since his mother's death.