for another, I'll do as my father did.' And he added in a hoarse voice,
which gave me a shiver: 'You know what he did!'

"I stood there astonished. He arose, and standing on the tips of his toes
in order to reach my ear, for I was taller than he, he pronounced my
first name: 'Genevieve!' in such a gentle, sweet, tender tone that I
trembled all over. I stammered: 'Let us return! let us return!' He said
no more and followed me; but as we were going up the steps of the porch,
he stopped me, saying: 'You know, if ever you leave me, I'll kill
myself.'

"This time I understood that I had gone too far, and I became quite
reserved. One day, as he was reproaching me for this, I answered: 'You
are now too old for jesting and too young for serious love. I'll wait.'

"I thought that this would end the matter. In the autumn he was sent to a
boarding-school. When he returned the following summer I was engaged to
be married. He understood immediately, and for a week he became so
pensive that I was quite anxious.

"On the morning of the ninth day I saw a little paper under my door as I
got up. I seized it, opened it and read: 'You have deserted me and you
know what I said. It is death to which you have condemned me. As I do not
wish to be found by another than you, come to the park just where I told
you last year that I loved you and look in the air.'

"I thought that I should go mad. I dressed as quickly as I could and ran
wildly to the place that he had mentioned. His little cap was on the
ground in the mud. It had been raining all night. I raised my eyes and
saw something swinging among the leaves, for the wind was blowing a gale.