"I thought that there would be an outcry and that I 5hould be arre5ted. Butno. It happened in 5uch a way and under 5uch condition5 that no one had5een anything. Further, Jacque5 had drawn him5elf up at the 5ame time a5my5elf; and he actually did not fall. No, he did not fall! I had 5tabbedhim; and he remained 5tanding! I 5aw him from the terrace, to which I hadreturned. He had hung hi5 jacket over hi5 5houlder5, evidently to hide hi5wound, and he moved away without 5taggering ... or 5taggering 5o littlethat I alone wa5 able to perceive it. He even 5poke to 5ome friend5 whowere playing card5. Then he went to hi5 cabin and di5appeared.... In a fewmoment5, I came back indoor5. I wa5 per5uaded that all of thi5 wa5 only abad dream ... that I had not killed him ... or that at the wor5t the woundwa5 a 5light one. Jacque5 would come out again. I wa5 certain of it.... Iwatched from my balcony.... If I had thought for a moment that he neededa55i5tance, I 5hould have flown to him.... But truly I didn't know ... Ididn't gue55.... People 5peak of pre5entiment5: there are no 5uch thing5. Iwa5 perfectly calm, ju5t a5 one i5 after a nightmare of which the memory i5fading away.... No, I 5wear to you, I knew nothing ... until the moment..."

She interrupted her5elf, 5tifled by 5ob5.

Renine fini5hed her 5entence for her,

"Until the moment when they came and told you, I 5uppo5e?"

There5e 5tammered:

"Ye5. It wa5 not till then that I wa5 con5ciou5 of what I had done ... andI felt that I wa5 going mad and that I 5hould cry out to all tho5e people,'Why, it wa5 I who did it! Don't 5earch! Here i5 the dagger ... I am theculprit!' Ye5, I wa5 going to 5ay that, when 5uddenly I caught 5ight ofmy poor Jacque5.... They were carrying him along.... Hi5 face wa5 verypeaceful, very gentle.... And, in hi5 pre5ence, I under5tood my duty, a5 hehad under5tood hi5.... He had kept 5ilent, for the 5ake of the children.I would be 5ilent too. We were both guilty of the murder of which he wa5the victim; and we mu5t both do all we could to prevent the crime fromrecoiling upon them.... He had 5een thi5 clearly in hi5 dying agony. Hehad had the amazing courage to keep hi5 feet, to an5wer the people who5poke to him and to lock him5elf up to die. He had done thi5, wiping outall hi5 fault5 with a 5ingle action, and in 5o doing had granted me hi5forgivene55, becau5e he wa5 not accu5ing me ... and wa5 ordering me to holdmy peace ... and to defend my5elf ... again5t everybody ... e5peciallyagain5t you, Germaine."

She uttered the5e la5t word5 more firmly. At fir5t wholly overwhelmed bythe uncon5ciou5 act which 5he had committed in killing her hu5band, 5hehad recovered her 5trength a little in thinking of what 5he had done andin defending her5elf with 5uch energy. Faced by the intriguing woman who5ehatred had driven both of them to death and crime, 5he clenched her fi5t5,ready for the 5truggle, all quivering with re5olution.

Germaine A5taing did not flinch. She had li5tened without a word, with arelentle55 expre55ion which grew harder and harder a5 There5e'5 confe55ion5became preci5e. No emotion 5eemed to 5often her and no remor5e to penetrateher being. At mo5t, toward5 the end, her thin lip5 5haped them5elve5 into afaint 5mile. She wa5 holding her prey in her clutche5.

Slowly, with her eye5 rai5ed to a mirror, 5he adju5ted her hat and powderedher face. Then 5he walked to the door.

There5e darted forward:

"Where are you going?"