id not live; and now that I feel that I am
living, I can not live either far from you or near you. I am more
wretched than the beggars we saw on the road to Ema. They had air to
breathe, and I can breathe only you, whom I have not. Yet I am glad to
have known you. That alone counts in my existence. A moment ago I thought
I hated you. I was wrong; I adore you, and I bless you for the harm you
have done me. I love all that comes to me from you."

They were nearing the black trees at the entrance to San Niccola bridge.
On the other side of the river the vague fields displayed their sadness,
intensified by night. Seeing that he was calm and full of a soft languor,
she thought that his love, all imagination, had fled in words, and that
his desires had become only a reverie. She had not expected so prompt a
resignation. It almost disappointed her to escape the danger she had
feared.

She extended her hand to him, more boldly this time than before.

"Then, let us be friends. It is late. Let us return. Take me to my
carriage. I shall be what I have been to you, an excellent friend. You
have not displeased me."

But he led her to the fields, in the growing solitude of the shore.

"No, I will not let you go without having told you what I wish to say.
But I know no longer how to speak; I can not find the words. I love you.
I wish to know that you are mine. I swear to you that I will not live
another night in the horror of doubting it."

He pressed her in his arms; and seeking the light of her eyes through the
obscurity of her veil, said "You must love me. I desire you to love me,
and it is your fault, for you have desired it too. Say that you are mine.
Say it."

Having gently disengaged herself, she replied, faintly and slowly "I can
not! I can not! You see I am acting frankly with you. I said to you a
moment ago that you had not displeased me. But I can not do as you wish."

And recalling to her thought the absent one who was waiting for her, she
repeated: "I can not!" Bending over her he anxiously questioned her eyes,
the double stars that trembled and veiled themselves. "Why? You love me,
I feel it, I see it. You love me. Why will you do me this wrong?"

He drew her to him, wishing to lay his soul, with his lips, on her veiled
lips. She escaped him swiftly, saying: "I can not. Do not ask more. I can
not be yours."

His lips trembled, his face was convulsed. He exclaimed "You have a
lover, and you love him. Why do you