He thought to please her, and he lied.

He was evidently her superior, but she dominated him by a kind of inspired sincerity.

While he was master of his words, she offered her whole self in her words.
She described her former life.
"From the windows in my room and the dining-room, I could look out on the square.

The fountain in the centre, with its shadow at its base.
I watched the day go round there, on that little, white, round place, like a sundial.
"The postman crossed it regularly, without thinking.

At the arsenal gate stood a soldier doing nothing.