"I visited the Grange on Monday on purpose to discover what Arthur meant to do about Geoffrey's unfortunate entanglement. When I found that he had disowned the boy, I knew that a clear duty lay before me, and I did not shirk it. It was time that I made myself known to Arthur, for although he had divorced me I am still Geoffrey's mother, and have a right to concern myself with his future.
"I left the terrace at 12.30 on Monday. I would not permit Arthur's wife to accompany me. I knew that Arthur was in the study, and I chose to approach it from the garden so that people should not know I had gone to see him, a circumstance they must have thought peculiar. I wish to say that I had no intention of killing him. No such thought had so much as crossed my mind. I meant only to plead with him on Geoffrey's behalf. Julia Twining had promised to do what she could, but I had no faith in her power of persuasion. I thought if I threw myself on Arthur's generosity, perhaps, after so many years, he would listen to me.
"He was writing at his desk when I entered the room. I went in through the front windows. He was surprised to see me; I could see he was in one of his evil moods, though he was polite enough to me, in a surly fashion.
"When I told him who I was he did not at first believe me. He thought I was mad. When I convinced him he said, "You Theresa? You Theresa?" and burst into one of his loud, ill-bred horse-laughs.
"I did not mean to quarrel with him. I thought I had sufficient control over myself. Perhaps if he had not laughed as he did, I could have kept my temper. And yet I don't know.
"I am not going to recount what passed between us. But I do most solemnly assert that I tried to remain calm, that my only object was to intercede for Geoffrey. I had not realised, even with my knowledge of Arthur, that he hated the boy. I saw it then, of course. I cannot bring myself to write down the things that he said. His taunts at me I hope I could have borne with equanimity. What he said of Geoffrey — wicked, venomous sneers, on purpose to wound me — no mother could have borne.
"We did not talk for long, I think not more than ten minutes. I saw that I had only done harm; he would not listen to me. He told me I could go, and pretended to ignore me, and to go on with his work.
"I was standing beside his chair with my hand laid on his desk. I implored him to be reasonable. He laughed again, that jeering laugh I knew so well. I cannot explain what happened to me. It was all over in a flash. Every wrong I had suffered at his hands, all that past misery and bitterness came up before me, and there he sat, prosperous, self-satisfied, mean to the soul, revenging himself on my child — It is no use; I can't describe it. The knife was by my hand. He was not even looking. I snatched it up in a moment's Fury, perhaps I should say madness, and struck him with it. lf I were asked I could not say whether I meant to kill him. I think I did, At that moment. Anyway I am glad now that I did. People will say that I am a murderess. I am sure I do not care what they say.
"He fell forward over the desk. The blood spurted from the wound in the neck. Some of it spattered my sleeve. I put my scarf over it, and ran out of the room.
My knees were shaking. I could hardly grasp what I had done.