waited for him, they began quarrelling about me and . . . suddenly they were like two wild animals! Henri rushed at him . . . and then Eduard stabbed him with his knife! The villain, the villain! He has been missing since then; I have never seen him again; only at night, at night I see him with his knife! Oh, Addie, Addie, help me!"
He gripped her by the arms with all his might and sought to control her; but she resisted. She was like a madwoman; in the sultry summer heat she was overmastered by the day-long vision that loomed up regularly with the first balmy warmth of spring. She was like a madwoman; she saw everything before her eyes; she lived the past over again.
"Nobody has ever known, Addie, except you, except you!"
"Hush, Emilie, hush!"
He tried to look into her eyes, but they avoided his. She twisted and turned as though she were in the grasp of a ravisher; she dragged herself along the floor, while his hand held her arms. Suddenly his eyes met hers and he held and pierced them deeply with his grey-blue glance. She fell back helplessly against a chair; her features, now relaxed, hung slackly, like an old woman's; her lips drooped. She lay huddled and moaning, with a monotonous moan of pain. Then she began to shake her head, up and down, up and down, grating the back of her head against the chair.
"Get up, Emilie."
She obeyed, let him help her up, hung like a rag in his hands. She fell back on her bed, with her eyes closed; and he rang the bell. It was Constance who entered.
"We will undress her now, Mamma; she's much quieter. I'll ring for Aunt Adeline to help you."
He rang again and asked Truitje to go for Mrs.
