"I was thinking of you; I was saying to myself that most men in my place would have wanted to be loved without reserve.

I am loved, am I not ?" "Yes," she answered.
"And yet," he said, taking her round the waist and kissing her forehead at the risk of being seen, "I leave you pure and without remorse.

I could have dragged you into an abyss, but you remain in all your glory on its brink without a stain.

Yet one thought troubles me--" "What is it ?" she asked.
"You will despise me." She smiled superbly.

"Yes, you will never believe that I have sacredly loved you; I shall be disgraced, I know that.