"Natalie, where is your courage? I give my life without question; you
must bear your part too."
She still held her hand over her bosom.
"Yet," she said, as if she had not heard him, "that is what they say; it
kills, this pain in the heart. Why not--if one does not wish to live?"
At this moment the door was opened, and the mother came into the room.
"Madame," said Brand, quickly, "come and speak to your daughter. I have
had to tell her something that has upset her, perhaps, for a moment; but
you will console her; she is brave."
"Child, how you tremble, and how cold your hands are!" the mother cried.
"It does not matter, mother. From every pain there is a release, is
there not?"
"I do not understand you, Natalushka?"
"And I--and I, mother--"
She was on the point of breaking down, but she held firm. Then she
released herself from her mother's hold, and went forward and took her
lover's hand, and regarded him with the sad, fearless, beautiful eyes.
"I have been selfish," she said; "I have been thinking of myself, when
that is needless.
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