"I've a right to know."
"No."
"Why not?"
"I tell you, no. You left me to fight alone; it was all so terrible, I daren't think of it more than I can help."
"But—"
"There are no 'buts,' no anything. I bore the sorrow alone, and I shall keep to myself all the tenderness that remains: nothing can ever alter it."
"You say that as if you hated me. Don't do that, little Mavis. I love you more than I do my mean selfish self."
"You love me!"
"I do now. I wanted you to know. Once or twice, I hoped—never mind what. But from the way you said what you said just now, I see it's utterly 'off.'"
"You never said anything truer. And do you know why?" she asked with flaming eye.