"I thought we might come together again and live a new life."
Mrs. Jenner threw aside her work and sprang up. "I would rather die," she said, in a voice of intense hatred. "You treated me like a dog; you struck me; you starved me; you were unfaithful to me. I would rather die."
"It was the drink," Jenner pleaded. "I was all right when I was sober."
"And were you ever sober?" demanded the woman, bitterly. "Not you. In spite of all my care you lay in the mire and wallowed like the pig you are."
"This is a nice welcome," grumbled the man, beginning to lose his temper.
"What did you expect? Tears and kisses, and the killing of the fatted calf? No, my man; I have been a fool too long. I am no fool now. You have hunted me down; how, I know not. But you don't stay here. You go. And, this time you go--for ever."
"My rights as a husband and a father----"
"A criminal has no rights," interrupted his wife. "Think of the past," she went on in a loud, hard voice. "Think of it, and then wonder at your audacity in coming here to face me--me whom you have ruined."
"I don't want to think of the past--and I won't. Leave it alone. It's dead and done with."
"Yes, but the consequences remain. Look at this house--your work. See my withered looks--your work. Think of the child and his mysterious illness--your work. You forget all that you have done. I do not; and I intend to refresh your memory."