Guy tried not to be irritated by this.
"If you would only be reasonable! I realize now that for me at my age it's foolish to withdraw from my contemporaries. I shall stagnate. These two years have not been wasted...."
"Yes, they have," she interrupted, "if your poems are not worth your name."
"Dearest, these two years may well be the foundation on which I build all the rest of my life."
"May they?"
"Yes, of course. But a desire for the stimulus of other people isn't the only reason for leaving Plashers Mead. I can't afford it here. My debts are really getting impossible to manage, and unless I can show my father that I'm ready to do anything to be a writer, as I can't go out to Persia, well ... frankly I don't know what will happen. I gave Burrows notice at Midsummer."
"You never told me," said Pauline.
"Well, no, I was afraid you'd be upset and I wanted you to have this quiet time when I was away...."
"You don't trust me any more," she said.
"Oh, yes, I do, but I thought it would worry you. I know my money affairs do worry you. But now I shall be all right. I'll come down here often, you know, and, oh, really, dearest girl, it is better that I should be in London. So don't be jealous, will you, and don't torment yourself about my debts, will you, and don't think that you are anything but everything to me."