'Do people alter?' she answered.
'I neither know nor care if he will, but you? I could have made you happy. You won't let me. Oh, Edith, how could you torture me like this all the summer?'
'I didn't mean to torture you. We enjoyed being together.'
'Yes. But it makes this so much harder.'
'It would be such a risk!' she answered. 'But is anything worth having unless you're ready to risk every-thing to get it?'
'I would risk everything, for myself. But not for others…If you feel you want to go away,' she said, 'let it be only for a little while.'
'A little while! I hope I shall never see you again! Do you think I'm such a miserable fool—do you think I could endure the position of a tame cat? You forget I'm a man!… No; I'll never see you again now, not if it kills me!'
At these words, the first harsh ones she had ever heard from him, her nerves gave way, and she burst into tears.
This made him irresolute, for his tender-heartedness almost reached the point of weakness. He went up to her, as she lifted her head, and looked at her once more. Then he said:
'No, you've chosen. You have been cruel to me, and you're too good to him. But I suppose you must carry out your own nature, Edith. I've been the victim. That's all.'