that cluster of firs: was this not the spot where the unknown stranger, for months ... ?
A flood of contradictory feelings welled up within her: feelings of gratitude towards the invisible friend, feelings of confusion towards the actual friend, memories of the dear past and visions of the present. How she wished that she had not come to this place with Guillaume! She felt inclined to exclaim:
"Go away! Go away!"
But, on turning her head, she was stupefied at the sight of his pallor and the change in his face:
"What's the matter? Why don't you say something? Speak to me!"
She broke off. A sudden thought struck her, an improbable, but madly delightful idea. She fixed her eyes on his, looked down into his very soul; and the truth appeared to her so clearly that, leaning against the side of the rock, she gasped:
