'And that you shall have.' 'Then I'll try to live.' He raised himself a little in bed. His eyes were fixed on her and he tried hard to believe. 'I'm afraid,' he said, 'it's too late now.' She watched him with the eyes she knew he loved, and though ashamed of the question, she could not put it back, and it slipped through her lips.
'Would you sooner live for me than for that picture?'
'One never knows what one would choose,' he said. 'Such speculations are always vain, and never were they vainer than now. … But I'm glad you like that movement. It doesn't matter even if I never finish it, I don't think it looks bad in its present state, does it?'
'It is a sketch, one of those things that could not be finished. … I recognise the model. She sat for it, didn't she?'
'Yes.'
'You seem very intimate. … She seems very devoted.'
'She has been very good to me. … Don't say anything against her. I've nothing to conceal, Mildred. It is an old story. It began long before I knew you.'
'And continued while you knew me?'
'Yes.'
'And you never told me. Oh, Ralph, while you were telling me you loved me you were living with this woman.'