What would he gain by doing so? It was certainly true that she did not
like him, for she had pretended not to recognise him, and had treated
him as she would any ordinary customer, whose money alone is good to
take. At first he was angry, as he accused her of being mean-spirited
and grasping. So much the better! It was ended between them, this
unspoken romance, and he would never think of her again. Then, as
he always did think of her, he at last excused her, for was she not
dependent upon her work to live, and ought she not to gain her bread?
Two days later he was very unhappy, and he began to wander around the
house, distressed that he could not see her. She no longer went out to
walk. She did not even go to the balcony, or to the window, as before.
He was forced to acknowledge that if she cared not for him, if in
reality she was mercenary, in spite of all, his love for her increased
daily, as one loves when only twenty years of age, without reasoning,
following merely the drawing of one's heart, simply for the joy and the
grief of loving.
One morning he caught a glimpse of her for a moment, and realised that
he could not give her up. Now she was his chosen one and no other.
Whatever she might be, bad or good, ugly or pretty, poor or rich, he
would give up his life rather than not be able to claim her.
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