hing, or almost anything; but
if you stay here one other moment I will avoid the truth no longer.'

He cast the door wide open, and Annette with an amazing submissiveness
passed through it.

It was long past mid-autumn by this time, and was indeed fast drawing
on towards winter, so that in the little study a fire was lit in the
earlier hours of the day to air the room. It had been lighted that
morning, and the first true nip of winter was in the air. Paul sat alone
with his head between his hands until a violent shiver aroused him from
his thoughts. The air was growing dark as well as chilly; a pale yellow
light gleamed already from the windows of the Cafe de la Regence across
the _place_, and the outlook was as chilly as the air, as comfortless as
the thoughts which filled his mind.

'Hands up,' said Paul to himself; 'hands up and sink down into the waste
waters, and have done with it.'

Of what act of desperation he would have been guilty in this mood he
could never have told, but at this instant the door was opened very
softly, and Annette was back again. She had been somewhat dishevelled
at her last appearance, and carelessly attired. She had now, to all
seeming, called in the aid of the solitary coiffeur of the village, and
her pretty brown locks were done up in lustrous coils. She was attired
in a charming little dressing-gown of pale-blue, with lace at the wrists
and throat, and her complexion had been somewhat rudely brightened by a
touch of red upon the cheeks. She closed the door softly behind her, and
advanced with pleading hands.

'Paul dear,' she said, 'I do not know if ever you can forgive me, but I
think you would, perhaps, if you knew the real truth about me. Oh, Paul,
Paul, Paul, I am afraid--I am afraid that I am going mad! I have no
self-control. I say cruel and wicked things without believing them, and
I cannot help it There is a devil in my soul who tempts me. What is a
poor little girl like me to do against the devil? Won't you help me,
Paul dear? Give me back my ring; I never meant to throw it away. There
is nothing I value so much in the world. Give it back to me, Paul.
There; put it on my finger. God bless you for ever, you dearest,
dearest, kindest, patient dear! And now, Paul, take me in your arms as
you used to do. Kiss me, and tell me that you love me. I'm only a little
creature, Paul, when everything's said and done; I'm five feet three,
English measure, and how can _I_ be expected to