And yet, moved by some obscure resentment, by an ebullition of ill-temper or natural curiosity, and also because he loved her too deeply to control himself, he said to her, with bitterness in his voice: "You were on intimate terms with him, formerly." She was silent, and did not deny the fact.

Not that she felt that it was henceforth useless to lie.

On the contrary, she was in the habit of denying the obvious truth, and she had, of course, too much knowledge of men to be ignorant of the fact that, when in love, there is no lie, however clumsy, which they cannot believe if they wish to do so.

But on this occasion, contrary to her nature and habit, she refrained from lying.

She was afraid of offending the dead.