Ah, Gyp, come back to me! And see how good I will be. I will take you
abroad, you and the bambina. We will go to Rome--anywhere you like--live
how you like. Only come back to me!"
Gyp answered stonily:
"You are talking nonsense."
"Gyp, I swear to you I have not seen a woman--not one fit to put beside
you. Oh, Gyp, be good to me once more. This time I will not fail. Try
me! Try me, my Gyp!"
Only at this moment of his pleading, whose tragic tones seemed to her
both false and childish, did Gyp realize the strength of the new feeling
in her heart. And the more that feeling throbbed within her, the harder
her face and her voice grew. She said:
"If that is all you came to say--please go. I will never come back to
you. Once for all, understand, PLEASE."
The silence in which he received her words, and his expression,
impressed her far more than his appeal; with one of his stealthy
movements he came quite close, and, putting his face forward till it
almost touched her, said:
"You are my wife. I want you back. I must have you back. If you do not
come, I will kill either you or myself."
And suddenly she felt his arms knotted behind her back, crushing her
to him. She stilled a scream; then, very swiftly, took a resolve, and,
rigid in his arms, said:
"Let go; you hurt me. Sit down quietly. I will tell you something."
The tone of her voice made him loosen his grasp and crane back to see
her face.
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