“Then I shall leave.”
“That’s precisely what I wish you to do, and Ivan and I will go with you.”
She opened the door and I rose and flung my cigar away.
“I’ve thrown the rest of it away. Now let us be sensible and face things, and stop this wrangling. Come and sit down again.”
“I will not. I will not be insulted.”
I looked her very steadily in the eyes as I crossed the room to her, and she may have divined something of my thoughts, for it seemed to cost her an effort to meet my gaze. And when I was close to her, she shrank slightly and her fingers left the door handle. I closed the door then, and she bit her lip and frowned in the struggle to appear firm. After an intentionally long pause, I said, slowly and deliberately—
“You have been horribly unjust to me. In your anger you have said things that I would suffer from no one else. You know that, and—” I paused and lowered my tone—“and you know why. We both know why, Helga. We learnt it to-night.”
She shook her head quickly.
“I don’t see why you should shake your head. It has changed all my life for me——”
“Don’t,” she interposed.