"And Polly?"
"She knows, of course, that we love each other, Hector, any woman could see that. She's never told Dick though. I asked her not to, but, Hector, she's always asking me things, why we ... don't..."
"What did you tell her?"
"Oh, some lie, but she didn't believe it. Hector, do you know, I think if she knew the truth, and we were to go away together, she'd stand by us two."
"Why are you always harping on this, Stara? I've told you the thing's practically impossible, though of course I'd do it, if anything happened. Why, do you know what I have to live on now that I've given up my income to her? Fool that I was! Two hundred a year besides my pay, and the last would stop once I leave, bar £120 a year."
"I don't think I should mind, Hector. I'm a good housekeeper, and we should have each other, which is everything, and perhaps in time your wife might relent, and we could marry."
"Damn her relenting, Stara; don't dream of it. I wouldn't do it for your sake, as much as mine. Oh, why can't you be satisfied, we are everything to each other now, and—and it's possible that if we were tied like that, you—I shouldn't—might tire, it's the freedom, don't you think, that makes love lasting?"
"No, I don't, I hate those ideas. They're wicked and unnatural. It's the advocates of immorality who start such theories."
"I'm not so sure, but about going, I should like to leave to-morrow, if it could be managed. I can easily get leave later, you know, and come back again."
"When?"