"Yes, your lovers! They told me about it, and I was stupid enough to doubt it. But I was the only one! I was the only one!"
Denise, suffocating, bewildered, stood listening to these frightful charges, which she had not at first understood. Did he really suppose her to be as bad as this? At another remark, harsher than all the rest, she silently turned towards the door. And, in reply to a movement he made to stop her, said:
"Let me alone, sir, I'm going away. If you think me what you say. I will not remain in the house another second."
But be rushed in front of the door, exclaiming: "Why don't you defend yourself'? Say something!"
She stood there very stiff, maintaining an icy silence. For a long time he pressed her with questions, with a growing anxiety; and the mute dignity of this in
