“Toward you, Madeline? I don't understand what you mean.”
“Yes, you do. Of course you do. If you were the same as you used to be, you would let Father help you. We used to talk about that very thing and—and you didn't resent it then.”
“Didn't I? Well, perhaps I didn't. But I think I remember our speaking sometimes of sacrificing everything for each other. We were to live in poverty, if necessary, and I was to write, you know, and—”
“Stop! All that was nonsense, nonsense! you know it.”
“Yes, I'm afraid it was.”
“You know it was. And if you were as you used to be, if you—”
“Madeline!”
“What? Why did you interrupt me?”
“Because I wanted to ask you a question. Do you think YOU are exactly the same—as you used to be?”
“What do you mean?”