She swung her gaze reluctantly to his. He was sitting erect now, a kind of pallor setting in behind the black beard.
"Leggo!" she said, loosening his tightening hand from her wrists. "Leggo; you hurt!"
"I—take it when a woman uses that word in her own home, she means it."
"This one does."
"You're a deacon's wife. Things—like this are—are pretty serious with people in our walk of life. We—'ain't learned in our communities yet not to take the marriage law as of God's own makin'. I'm a respected citizen here."
"So was Ed Bevins. It never hurt his hide."
"But it left her with a black name in the town."
"Who cares? She don't."
"It's no good to oppose a woman, Hanna, when she's made up her mind; but
I'm willin' to meet you half-way on this thing. Suppose we try it again.
I got some plans for perkin' things up a bit between us. Say we join the
Buckeye Bowling Club, and—"
"No! No! No! That gang of church-pillars! I can't stand it, I tell you; you mustn't try to keep me! You mustn't! I'm a rat in a trap here. Gimme a few dollars. Hundred and fifty is all I ask. Not even alimony. Lemme apply. Gimme grounds. It's done every day. Lemme go. What's done can't be undone. I'm not blamin' you. You're what you are and I'm what I am. I'm not blamin' anybody. You're what you are, and God Almighty can't change you. Lemme go, John; for God's sake, lemme go!"