"I t-told you I should. You should have let me go home."
"My dear child, it's natural you should cry after what you've been through. But there's a point where every one ought to stop. You'll make yourself ill."
"I shall never forgive myself—never, never!"
This was a point of view that the baronet had evidently tried to combat already, and unsuccessfully. He sighed, and took another drink.
"I'm bad—wicked—heartless and disgraced." She jumped up and began to button her coat.
"I must go—at once!" she cried. "Where did you put my hat?"
"Flash!"
She was so near him that without rising he could put out his hand and catch her arm. She looked at his face and sat down, weakly and as if fascinated. He held her so for a few moments, and then turned his eyes away.
"Don't be a little muff!" he said.
His words seemed to relieve a tension. She giggled hysterically.