"Let me help, Robert. I've got such a lot. I've no one else. I could make it easier for you both. I should be happier, too. And you could pay me back afterwards with interest—a hundred per cent.—I don't care what."
But now feeling through the dark she had reached the barrier. He answered stonily.
"Thanks. We've never owed anything. We shan't begin now."
She slipped into her coat. She tugged her soft hat down over her hair. There was more than anger in her quick, impatient movements. She was going because she couldn't bear it any more. She had given in. She would never come back. And at that fear he broke out with a desperate cunning.
"It's too bad to be angry with me. I—I want to go."
"And I've asked you——?
"Because you want me?"
"Of course. It will be the first chance we've had to really talk——"
"It can't matter—just for once," he pleaded with himself.
"It might matter a great deal."