How pretty you are, my darling! Are you well again now ?" "Yes, I am cured." And in sudden entreaty she said: "Robert, I love you.

Do not leave me.

If you were to leave me I know for certain I could never take another lover.

And what would become of me?
You know that I can't do without love." He replied brusquely, in a harsh voice, that he loved her only too well, that he thought of nothing but of her.
"I'm going crazy with it." His harshness delighted and reassured her better than the nerveless tenderness of oaths and promises could have done.

She smiled and began to undress herself generously.
"When do you make your debut at the Comedie ?" "This very month." She opened her little bag, and took from it, together with her face-powder, her call for the rehearsal, which she held out to Robert.
It was a source of unending delight to her to gaze admiringly at this document, because it bore the heading of the Comedie, with the remote and awe-inspiring date of its foundation.
"You see, I make my debut as Agnes in _L'Ecole des Femmes_." "It's a fine part." "I believe you." And, while she was undressing, the lines surged to her lips, and she whispered them: "Moi, j'ai blesse quelqu'un?
fis-je tout etonnee Oui, dit-elle, blesse; mais blesse tout de bon; Et c'est l'homme qu'hier vous vites au balcon Las! qui pourrait, lui dis-je, en avoir ete cause?
Sur lui, sans y penser, fis-je choir quelque chose ?" "You see, I have not grown thin." "Non, dit-elle, vos yeux ont fait ce coup fatal, Et c'est de leurs regards qu'est venu tout son mal." "If anything, I am a little plumper, but not too much." "He, mon Dieu! ma surprise est, fis-je, sans seconde; Mes yeux ont-ils du mal pour en donner au monde ?" He listened to the lines with pleasure.