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STRAIT IS THE GATE 230

way into a smaller room, which was already dark, and of which one door led into her bedroom, and another into the drawing-room. “This is where I take refuge when I have a moment to myself; it is the quietest room in the house; I feel that I am almost sheltered from life in here." The window of this small drawing-room did not open like those of the other rooms, on to the noises of the town, but on to a sort of courtyard planted with trees. “Let us sit down,” said she, dropping into an armchair. “If I understand you rightly it is to Alissa's memory that you mean to remain faithful.” I stayed a moment without answering. “Rather, perhaps, to her idea of me. No, don't give me any credit for it. I think I couldn't do otherwise. If I married another woman, I could only pretend to love her." “Ah!” said she, as though indifferently; then turning her face away from me, she bent it to wards the ground, as if she were looking for something she had lost.“ Then you think that one can keep a hopeless love in one's heart for so long as that?" "Yes, Juliette."

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