He let her go before she could cry out.

And she was so used to the forms of repression enveloping, softening the crude impulses of old humanity that she no longer believed in their existence as if it were an exploded legend.

She did not recognise what had happened to her.

She came safe out of his arms, without a struggle, not even having felt afraid.
"What's the meaning of this ?" she said, outraged but calm in a scornful way.
He got down on his knees in silence, bent low to her very feet, while she looked down at him, a little surprised, without animosity, as if merely curious to see what he would do.

Then, while he remained bowed to the ground pressing the hem of her skirt to his lips, she made a slight movement.