Page:The Eyes of Innocence.djvu/80

 76 He flung himself on his knees:

"Do not judge me unheard. ... I am not master of myself. ... I have to go away for a month ... and I wanted to see you ... to tell you what I feel, what I suffer. ... Oh, you don't know how your indifference has tortured me. ... My sadness, my admiration, my hopes, my emotion, when in your presence: you have understood none of these ... but then you never do understand. ... At this very moment, when I am here, at your knees, when I am imploring you, when I am proclaiming my sorrow and my obsession, I feel that my words do not reach you. And yet they must. You must, you shall know what I have to say to you. ... Listen to me. ..."

But Gilberte would not listen. Although her extreme innocence had preserved her at first contact with the world, nevertheless she was beginning to see a glimmer of the meaning of many things; and she was frightened of the words that were coming. No, she