“Would it not?” said he presently.
“Please do not talk about it, Ronald. What is the use? I have said all there is to say, I am sure.”
“But I have not,” he answered, insisting. “Please, Joe dearest, think about it seriously. Think what a cruel thing it is you are doing.” His voice was very tender, but he was perfectly calm; there was not the slightest vibration of passion in the tones. Joe did not wholly understand; she only knew that he was not satisfied with the first explanation she had given him, and that she felt sorry for him, but was incapable of changing her decision.
“Must I go over it all again?” she asked piteously. “Did I not make it clear to you, Ronald? Oh–don’t talk about it!”
“You have no heart, Joe,” said Ronald hotly. “You don’t know what you make me suffer. You don’t know that this sort of thing is enough to wreck a man’s existence altogether. You don’t know what you are doing, because you have no heart–not the least bit of one.”
“Do not say that–please do not,” Joe entreated, looking at him with imploring eyes, for his words hurt her. Then suddenly the tears came in a quick hot gush, and she hid her face in her hands. “Oh, Ronald, Ronald–it is you who do not know,” she sobbed.
Ronald did not quite know what to do; he never did when Joe cried, but fortunately that disaster had not occurred often since he was very small. He was angry with himself for having disturbed and hurt her, but he did not know what to do, most probably because he did not really love her.
“Joe,” he said, looking at her in some embarrassment, “don’t!” Then he rose and rather timidly laid a hand on her shoulder. But she shrank from him with a petulant motion, and the tears trickled through her small white hands and fell upon her dark dress and on the “Life of Rufus Choate.”
“Joe, dear”–Ronald began again. And then, in great uncertainty of mind, he went and looked out of the window. Presently he came back and stood before her once more.
“I am awfully sorry I said it, Joe. Please forgive me. You don’t often cry, you know, and so”–He hesitated.