Well, suppose I make the effort; I do it.

Either I receive a humiliating refusal or consent....

Well, I have received his consent, say..." Anna was at that moment at the furthest end of the room, and she stopped there, doing something to the curtain at the window.

" I receive his consent, but my...my son? They won't give him up to me.

He will grow up despising me, with his father, whom I've abandoned.