“Yes. Oh, I know what you are going to say, but I’ve thought and thought and thought. I must please myself.”
He seemed now to be quite controlled again. When he spoke, it was in an irritatingly soothing voice that one might use to a child. “My dear, surely you have got over that nonsense now?”
She shook her head. “Please don’t try and be understanding,” she said. “I know how you feel about it, but I’ve really made up my mind once and for all.”
He lit a cigarette, holding the heavy gold case thoughtfully in his hand. “Does Margaret know about us? Does she know what she is doing to us?”
“She has waited for me. She knew that this would come to nothing. She told me a year ago. She waited and, you see, she was right.”
“Are you being perverted? Isn’t it rather a beastly thing to do?”
“I suppose I must expect to hear that sort of thing, but it will not stop me. Margaret and I can’t be parted any longer.”
“I think I would rather it had been a man.”
She shook her head. “No, you are wrong. You would not have taken it as you are taking it now. You wouldn’t have been patient. You would have got into a terrible rage and you would have wanted to kill him.”
He made a little grimace. “I suppose I should,” he admitted. “This is so out of my hands. I feel there is something so repugnant about it that I don’t want to have anything to do with it.”