"Oh!
What a fool I was to leave Paris! After all, in Paris, they know what
it is, life! However, I weary thee. Let us say no more about it."
She controlled her agitation. The subject was excessively delicate,
and that she should have expressed herself so violently on it
showed the powerful reality of the emotion it had aroused in her.
Unquestionably the decency of her livelihood was at stake. She had
convinced him of the peril. But what could he say? He could not say,
"Do not despair. You are indispensable; therefore you will not be
dispensed with. These crises have often arisen before, and they always
end in the same manner. And are there not the big hotels, the chic
cinemas, certain restaurants? Not to mention the clientele which you
must have made for yourself?" Such remarks were impossible. But not
more impossible than the very basis of his relations with her. He was
aware again of the weight of an undischarged obligation to her. His
behaviour towards her had always been perfection, and yet was she not
his creditor? He had a conscience, and it was illogical and extremely
inconvenient.
At that moment a young man flew along the silent, shadowed street, and
as he passed them shouted somewhat hysterically the one word:
"Zepps!"
Christine clutched his arm.
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