...
He said this with some effort, because he did not believe, he never believed that the truth served any useful purpose.
Herve Joncour lifted up his eyes to the park.
It was automn, with a false light playing all about.

"The first time I saw Hara Kei, he was wearing a dark tunic, beside him, her head resting on his lap, was a woman. Her eyes did not have an oriental slant, and her face was the face of a young girl."

Baldabiou listened to him in silence, right to the end, to the train at Eberfeld.
He thought nothing.
He listened. It pained him to hear Herve Joncour softly saying, in conclusion:

"I have never even heard her voice."
And a while later:
"It is a strange sort of pain, to die of yearning for something you'll never experience."

They walked up through the park side by side. The only thing Baldabiou said was:
"What ever is making it so damnably cold?"
That is what he said at a certain point ...