Le Monsieur de la Petite Dame"

'If you love me!—if you have ever loved me!' he cries, 'for God's sake!—for love's sake!—if there is love on earth—if there is a God in heaven, you will not let me implore you in vain!'

I did love you—long ago," she said; "but you never thought of me. You did not understand me then—nor afterward. All this winter my love has been dying a hard death. You tried to keep it alive, but—you did not understand. You only humiliated and tortured me—And I knew that if I had loved you more, you would have loved me less. See!" holding up her thin hand, "I have been worn out in the struggle between my unhappiness and remorse and you."