But of course it was absurd, I knew that well enough.

I never said anything, but I tried not to make myself ridiculous.

But I just want you to know about it now that it can't matter one way or the other.

You'll understand that I really do love you when I tell you that, if it were not that I knew you were frightened and unhappy, these last two days in which we have been always together would have been infinitely the happiest of my life." The girl sat pale and silent, looking down with wondering eyes at his upturned face.

She did not know what to do or say in the solemn presence of this love which burned so brightly under the shadow of death.