“These infernal institutions—”
“Some one must begin,” I said.
He shook his head. “Not YOU,” he said. “No!”
He stretched out his hands on the desk before him, and spoke again.
“Remington,” he said, “I've thought of this business day and night too. It matters to me. It matters immensely to me. In a way—it's a thing one doesn't often say to a man—I've loved you. I'm the sort of man who leads a narrow life.... But you've been something fine and good for me, since that time, do you remember? when we talked about Mecca together.”
I nodded.
“Yes. And you'll always be something fine and good for me anyhow. I know things about you,—qualities—no mere act can destroy them.. .. Well, I can tell you, you're doing wrong. You're going on now like a man who is hypnotised and can't turn round. You're piling wrong on wrong. It was wrong for you two people ever to be lovers.”
He paused.
“It gripped us hard,” I said.
“Yes!—but in your position! And hers! It was vile!”