Page:Hours Spent in Prison.djvu/166

 “You ought to understand,” he said, “that the forgiveness does not matter, but that a man’s acknowledgment does signify. To forgive is another thing,” he added; “he himself, perhaps, would not forgive.”

Afterwards they began to speak incoherently. Each looked at the other; they looked, as it were, into each other’s hearts, and continued to dispute….

He to her: “You,” he said, “you are sectarian.”

“And you,” she to him, “you are a cold, indifferent man.”

No sooner had she pronounced these words than he jumped up at once on the spot. “Indifferent!” he exclaimed, “but you yourself know that you did tell an untruth!”

“Let it be so,” she responded, and smiled at him, “and you, you spoke truth, perhaps?”

“But I,” he said, “I told the truth.”

She thought for a while, and afterwards put out her hand to him. He took it, while she looked straight into his