“What were they doing? You know better than anyone what they were doing!⁠ ⁠… You were there!⁠ ⁠… And you were watching them, you and Mercier!⁠ ⁠… And you were the only two who didn’t laugh.⁠ ⁠…”

“I don’t understand!”

Gabriel raised his arms and dropped them to his sides again, which gesture was meant to convey that the question did not interest him in the least. Rémy continued:

“What is the sense of this new mania of theirs? Why won’t they have anyone come near them now? ”

“What? Won’t they have anyone come near them? ”

“ And they won’t let anyone touch them! ”