“Wife—you call me that?”
“What do you call it, then?”
“Prisoner—slave!”
His face hardened.
“And if I did, ain’t there some justification? If our deal had been a love deal I guess the arrangement would have been canceled long ago. But it wasn’t. It was commercial transaction to which you gave your approval. It may 203 be morally wrong to keep you, but the whole darned frame-up was morally wrong. So morals don’t come into it—savvy? Legally I got a claim to my—goods, and you’re asking me to forgo that claim. But you don’t show much regret at taking a hand in that dirty business——”
“I told you I was sorry.”
“Yep—sorry, because it’s hurting you.”
She knew this was true, and the fact that he knew it too stung her. She sunk her head in her hands and remained for some time in silence. When she raised it again her face was full of a new determination.
“You are only bringing pain upon yourself,” she said tensely.
“I can bear it.”