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“ ‘I loathe what I did!’ I said
“ ‘Then loathe me, not yourself’
“ ‘No You don’t understand You nearly destroyed the thing you value in me when this happened! I resisted you with all my pohen I didn’t even knoas your force which orking onnearly died in me! Passion nearly died in me! I was all but destroyed when Madeleine was created!’
“ ‘But that thing is no longer dead, that passion, that humanity, whatever you wish to name it If it were not alive there wouldn’t be tears in your eyes now There wouldn’t be rage in your voice,’ he said
“For the led to speak again ‘You ainst my will! You must never exert such power…’ I stammered
“ ‘No,’ he said at once ‘I must not My power stops somewhere inside you, at some threshold There I am powerless, however… this creation of Madeleine is done You are free’
“ ‘And you are satisfied,’ I said, gaining control of myself ‘I don’t mean to be harsh You have me I love you But I’m mystified You’re satisfied?’
“ ‘How could I not be?’ he asked ‘I am satisfied, of course’
“I stood up and went to theThe last eray sky I heard Are I could feel hi more and more accustomed to the luminosity of the sky, so that now I could see his profile and his eye on the falling rain The sound of the rain was everywhere and different: flowing in the gutter along the roof, tapping the shingles, falling softly through the shi on the sloped stone sill in front ofof sounds that drenched and colored all of the night
“ ‘Do you forgiveyou with the woman?’ he asked
“ ‘You don’t need iveness’
“ ‘You need it,’ he said ‘Therefore, I need it’ His face was as always utterly calm
“ ‘Will she care for Claudia? Will she endure?’ I asked
“ ‘She is perfect Mad; but for these days that is perfect She will care for Claudia She has never lived a moment of life alone; it is natural to her that she be devoted to her co Claudia Yet, in addition to her needs, she does have particular reasons Claudia’s beautiful surface, Claudia’s quiet, Claudia’s doether But I think… that as soon as possible they should leave Paris’
“ ‘Why?’