But I see the truth quite clearly"; and she smiled at him.

"If you wanted me to believe, you should never have told me of the law, a year ago in the Chalet de Lognan.

My father obeyed the law--that was all.

You know it as well as I.He had no time to think; he acted upon the instinct of the moment; he could not do otherwise.

Had there been time to think, would he have reached out his hand?
We both know that he would not.