"Rude! Well, I'm only a gipsy and a dompteuse!"

"Is that all, my girl?"

"That's all, now." Then, with a sudden change and a quick sob: "But I
may be-- Oh, I can't say it, Gaston!" She hid her face for a moment on
his shoulder. "My God!"

He got to his feet. He had not thought of that--of another besides
themselves. He had drifted. A hundred ideas ran back and forth. He
went to the window and stood looking out. Alice's letter was still in
his fingers.

She came and touched his shoulder.

"Are you going to leave me, Gaston? What does that letter say?"

He looked at her kindly, with a protective tenderness.

"Read the letter, Andree," he said.

She did so, at first slowly, then quickly, then over and over again.
He stood motionless in the window. She pushed the letter between his
fingers. He did not turn. "I cannot understand everything, but what she
says she means. Oh, Gaston, what a fool, what a fool you've been!"

After a moment, however, she threw her arms about him with animal-like
fierceness.