"I must go," she said dully, and fumbled at the fastening of the door. Paul came and took her by the arm, and led her back gently.
"I want to explain, first," he said.
"There is nothing to explain," said Katharine. "I understand."
"Not quite, I think," said Paul. They were standing together by the table, and he was nervously caressing the hand he held between his own. "You have only been talking from your own point of view; you have forgotten mine altogether. You do not seem to think that I, too, may have had something to suffer."
"You? But you do not care—as I do."
He did not heed the interruption.
"It is the system that is at fault," he said. "A man has to get on at the sacrifice of his happiness; or he has to be happy at the sacrifice of his position. It is difficult for a woman to realise this. She never has to choose between love and ambition."
"And you have chosen—ambition," said Katharine bitterly.
"My child, when you are older you will understand that the very qualities you affect to despise in man now, are the qualities that endear him to you in reality. You are far too fine a woman, Katharine, to love a man who has no ambition. Is it not so?"
She quivered, and lowered her eyes.