In so speaking they saw further than the flesh. In their remorse and disgust it was not mere physical disillusionment that so crushed them. They saw further. They were overcome by an impression of bleak truth, of aridity, of growing nothingness, at the thought that they had so many times grasped, rejected, and vainly grasped again their frail carnal ideal. They felt that everything was fleeting, that everything wore out, that everything that was not dead would die, and that even the illusory ties holding them together would not endure. Their sadness did not bring them together. On the contrary, they were separated by all the force of their two sorrows. To suffer together, alas, what disunion! And the condemnation of love itself came from her, in a cry of agony: "Oh, our great, our immense love! I feel that little by little I am recovering from it!" . . . . . She threw back her head, and raised her eyes. "Oh, the first time!" she said. She went on, while both of them saw that first time when their hands had found each other. "I knew that some day all that emotion would die, and, in spite of our promises, I wanted time to stand still. "But time did not stand still, and now we scarcely love each other." He made a gesture as of denial. "It is not only you, my dear, who are drifting away," she continued. "I am, too. At first I thought it was only you. But then I understood my poor heart and realised that in spite of you, I could do nothing against time." She went on slowly, now with her eyes turned away, now looking at him. "Alas, some day, I may say to you, 'I no longer love you.' Alas, alas, some day I may say to you, 'I have never loved you!' "This is the wound--time, which passes and changes us. The separation of human beings that deceive themselves is nothing in comparison. One can live even so. But the passage of time! To grow old, to think differently, to die. I am growing old and I am dying, I. It has taken me a long time to understand it. I am growing old. I /am/ not old, but I am growing old. I have a few grey hairs already. The first grey hair, what a blow! "Oh, this blotting out of the colour of your hair. It gives you the feeling of being covered with your shroud, of dry bones, and tombstones." She rose and cried out into the void: "Oh, to escape the network of wrinkles!" . . . . . She continued: