‘Just tell me if you actually mean to go through with this plan of yours, this stupid plan which you will bitterly regret.’

‘Yes, I do. Let me go.’

‘Very well then, stay. You know this is your home. We’ll leave first thing in the morning.’

She wrested herself from his grasp and rose, saying: ‘No! Too late! I don’t want any noble sacrifices from you.’

‘Stay, please. Now that I’ve said what I ought to, now that I’ve done what I ought to do, I’ve discharged my duty towards you and my conscience is clear. Tell me what you want and I’ll do it.’

She sat down again, gazed at him for a very long time, then, in a newly calm voice, asked: ‘Well? What was all that about?’

‘What do you mean? What is there to explain?’

‘Everything. Tell me what it was that made you change your mind. Then I’ll know what to do.’

‘I don’t know. I just know that I had to tell you it was a stupid idea. But if you really mean it, then I want to be part of it. In fact, I demand to be part of it.’

‘A man doesn’t do a volte-face just like that.’

‘Listen, my dearest. It’s not a question of noble sacrifice or anything like that. The day I realized I loved you, this is what I said to myself and I think anyone in love in the same circumstances must do the same: