"But so long as he escapes from it—"
She interrupted quickly: "Yes; so long as he does. But when he doesn't? When, instead of leaving his trouble outside the refuge, he brings it in?"
He took an uneasy turn up and down the balcony. "Look here, Lois; have you any particular motive in bringing this up now?"
"Yes, Thor. It's the same motive I had a few weeks ago, only that I haven't been sure of it till to-night. I want you"—she hesitated, but urged herself on—"I want you—to let me go away."
"Go away?" he cried, sharply. "Go away where?"
"I don't know yet. Anywhere. There are one or two visits I might make—or I could find a place. That part of it doesn't matter."
"But when you wanted to go away a few weeks ago—"
"It was to—to take her. I shouldn't need to do that now, because she's better. In a way she's all right—all right, only changed."
It was to make a show of not being afraid to mention Rosie that he said, "Changed in what way?"
"Well, you'll see." She decided that for his own sake it was kindness to be cruel, and so added: "Changed to a healthier frame of mind. She's very much ashamed of what she tried to do, and wants to begin again on a—on a less foolish basis. So," she continued, reverting to her former point, "my going away wouldn't now have anything to do with her. It would be on my own account. I want to—to think."