"Well?" he said, looking at her fixedly. "Well, you see I came back after
all!"

Sylvia made no answer.

"I ought not to have done so. It was weak of me." He did not look at her
as he spoke; he was tracing imaginary patterns on the stone floor.

"I came back," he concluded, in a low, bitter tone, "because I could not
stay any longer away from you."

And still Sylvia remained silent.

"Do you not believe that?" he asked, rather roughly.

And then at last she looked up and spoke.

"I think you imagine that to be the case," she said, "but I am sure that
it is not I, alone, who brought you back to Lacville."

"And yet it is you--you alone!" he exclaimed and he jumped up and came
and stood before her.

"God knows I do not wish to deceive you. Perhaps, if I had not come back
here, I should in time--not at once, Madame,--have gone somewhere else,
where I could enjoy the only thing in life which had come to be worth
while living for. But it was you--you alone--that brought me back here,
to Lacville!"

"Why did you go straight to the Casino?" she faltered. "And why?--oh, why