y she was well acquainted.

"Let me pass," he repeated.

"Well, then, no, no, no!" she cried. "You shall not desert! No, you
shall not do that infamous thing! There are things that one can't do....
This thing, Philippe, is monstrous!... Listen, Philippe, listen while I
tell you...."

She went up to him and, under her breath:

"Listen, Philippe ... listen to this confession.... Philippe, you know
what you did on Sunday, your cruelty to your father, to Suzanne, to all
of us: well, yes, I understood it.... I suffered the pangs of death, I
suffered more than any of the others.... Each word that you spoke burnt
into me like fire.... But, all the same, Philippe, I understood.... You
had to sacrifice us to the cause of peace. It was your right, it was
your duty to victimize us all in order that you might save a whole
nation.... But what you now propose to do.... Oh, the shame of it!...
Listen, if you did that ... I should think of you as one thinks of ... I
don't know what ... as one thinks of the most contemptible, the most
revolting ..."

Shrugging his shoulders impatiently, he interrupted her:

"I can't help it if you do not understand. It is my right ... and my
duty also...."

"Your duty is to join your regiment, now that war is declared, and to
fight, yes, to fight for France, like every other Frenchman ... like the
first peasant that comes along, who may tremble with all his poor human
flesh, it is true, and whose heart sinks within him and whose stomach
turns cold, but who believes that his duty lies in being there ... and
who goes ahead, come what may! March on, as he does, Philippe! I have
accepted all your opinions, I have shared them and backed them.... If
there is to be an end of our union, at least let me address this last
entreaty to you: join your regiment!... Your place is over there...."

"My place is anywhere except where men commit the odious act of
killing," exclaimed Philippe, who had listened to her in spite of
himself and who now suddenly collected himself. "My place is with my
friends. They trust me and I trust them. They are the men whom I must
join."

"Where? In Paris?"

"No. We swore, at the first signal, to meet at Zurich. From there, we
shall issue a manifesto calling upon all the thinkers and all the men of
independent views in Germany and France."

"But no one will answer your appeal!"

"Never mind! The appeal will have gone forth. The world will have heard
the protest of a few fr