She interrupted herself, stifled by sobs.
Rénine finished her sentence for her,
"Until the moment when they came and told you, I suppose?"
Thérèse stammered:
"Yes. It was not till then that I was conscious of what I had done … and I felt that I was going mad and that I should cry out to all those people, 'Why, it was I who did it! Don't search! Here is the dagger … I am the culprit!' Yes, I was going to say that, when suddenly I caught sight of my poor Jacques…. They were carrying him along…. His face was very peaceful, very gentle…. And, in his presence, I understood my duty, as he had understood his…. He had kept silent, for the sake of the children. I would be silent too. We were both guilty of the murder of which he was the victim; and we must both do all we could to prevent the cr
