Possibly. It all depends upon the point of view. For myself, I see too much. JACQUES DE RANDOL What do you see? MME. DE SALLUS I see too well, too far, too clearly. JACQUES DE RANDOL You do not love me? MME. DE SALLUS If I did not love you--a little--I should have had no excuse for giving myself to you. JACQUES DE RANDOL A little--just sufficient to warrant that excuse! MME. DE SALLUS But I do not excuse myself: I accuse myself. JACQUES DE RANDOL Then you did love me a little--and then--now--you love me no more! MME. DE SALLUS Do not let us argue. JACQUES DE RANDOL You do nothing else. MME. DE SALLUS No, I only judge the present by the past; the only just ideas and sane notions of life one can form are those concerning that which is past. JACQUES DE RANDOL And do you regret-- MME. DE SALLUS Perhaps! JACQUES DE RANDOL And what about to-morrow? MME. DE SALLUS I do not know. JACQUES DE RANDOL Is it nothing to you to have one who is yours, body and soul? MME. DE SALLUS [_shrugs her shoulders_] Yes, mine to-day. JACQUES DE RANDOL [_vehemently_] And to-morrow! MME. DE SALLUS [_shrugs her shoulders again_] Yes, the to-morrow that follows to-night, but not the to-morrow of a year hence. JACQUES DE RANDOL [_emphatically_] You shall see. But how about your husband? MME. DE SALLUS Does he annoy you? JACQUES DE RANDOL By heaven-- MME. DE SALLUS Hush! [_Archly._] My husband has fallen in love with me again. JACQUES DE RANDOL Is it possible? MME. DE SALLUS [_indignantly_] What do you mean by such an insolent question, and why should it not be possible? JACQUES DE RANDOL A man falls in love with his wife before he marries her, but after marriage he never commits the same mistake. MME. DE SALLUS But perhaps he has never really been in love with me until now. JACQUES DE RANDOL It is absolutely impossible that he could have lived with you--even in his curt, cavalier fashion--without loving you. MME. DE SALLUS [_indifferently_] It is of little importance. He has either loved me in the past, or is now beginning to love me. JACQUES DE RANDOL Truly, I do not understand you. Tell me all about it. MME. DE SALLUS But I have nothing to tell. He declares his love for me, takes me in his arms, and threatens me with his conjugal rights. This upsets me, torments me, and annoys me. JACQUES DE RANDOL Madeline you torture me. MME. DE SALLUS [_quickly_] And what about me? Do you think that I do not suffer? I know that I am not exactly a faithful woman since I received your addresses, but I have, and shall retain, a single heart. It is either you _or_ he. It will never be you _and_ he. For me that would be infamy--the greatest infamy of a guilty woman, the sharing of her heart--a thing that debases her. One may fall, perhaps, because there are ditches along the wayside and it is not always easy to follow the right path. But if one falls, that is no reason to throw oneself in the abyss.