Miss L. I had need of it all for the child.
Stonor (stares—comes closer, speaks hurriedly and very low). Do you mean then that, after all—it lived?
Miss L. No; I mean that it was sacrificed. But it showed me no barrier is so impassable as the one a little child can raise.
Stonor (a light dawning). Was that why you ... was that why?
Miss L. (nods, speechless a moment). Day and night there it was!—between my thought of you and me. (He sits again, staring at her.) When I was most unhappy I would wake, thinking I heard it cry. It was my own crying I heard, but I seemed to have it in my arms. I suppose I was mad. I used to lie there in that lonely farmhouse pretending to hush it. It was so I hushed myself.
Stonor. I never knew——
Miss L. I didn't blame you. You couldn't risk being with me.
Stonor. You agreed that for both our sakes——
Miss L. Yes, you had to be very circumspect. You were so well known. Your autocratic father—your brilliant political future——
Stonor. Be fair. Our future—as I saw it then.