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 see, but you can be certain of one thing: if I had been false to Lennart, I would go straight to him and tell him, and kill myself the same instant before his eyes."

"Do you love your husband?" asked Jenny.

Francesca was silent a moment.

"I don't know. If I loved him really as one ought to love, I suppose I should not be afraid of Hans Hermann. Do you think I should have let Hans behave like he did and kiss me?

"But I know, anyhow, that if I did wrong to Lennart I could not go on living. You understand, don't you? While I was Francesca Jahrman I was not very careful about my good name, but now I am Francesca Ahlin, and if I let fall the very faintest shadow of a suspicion on that name—his name—I should deserve to be shot down like a mad dog. Lennart would not do it, but I would do it myself."

She dropped her arms suddenly and crept into the bed, nestling close to Jenny.

"You believe in me, don't you? Do you think I could live if I had done anything dishonourable?"

"No, Cesca." Jenny put her arms round her and kissed her. "I don't think you could."

"I don't know what Lennart thinks; he does not understand me. When I get home I will tell him everything just as it is, and leave it to him."

"Cesca," said Jenny, but checked herself. She would not ask, after all, if she was happy. But Cesca began to tell by herself:

"I have had many difficulties since I married, I must tell you, and I have not been very happy, but then I was so foolish and ignorant in many ways.

"I married Lennart because Hans began to write to me when he was divorced, saying that he was determined to have