"You've seen a doctor?"
"Yes."
"Look here, Jane, why couldn't we find you some nice place in the country, where you could be quiet, have plenty of out-of-door exercise, and all that? You could go at once and I'd run out for week-ends."
"No, thanks. I prefer to stay here. After all, I shall not be in your way now, any more than I have been before."
Something in her tone made him wince.
"Jane, my dear, I'm sorry. I've been a brute."
"Please don't sentimentalize over me, Jerry. I'm glad this has happened to me. Whether you are glad or not, I must have your help. It is your child as well as mine. I cannot be put off in the country, out of your sight, because I'm ugly. I have a right to your consideration, but I want nothing more."
There was no sign of hysteria, just the quiet, simple statement of her case. In spite of his distress at her news, he admired her more at this moment than ever before. He drew a chair near her and sat down.
"I understand. Will you tell me what plans you have made, or thought of?"
"We could afford a little cottage in the country, for the summer, I think, with a servant. If we went in June and I stay until I go to the hospital, we could live inexpensively; you could paint, or go about among your friends."