"With my first suggestion badly squashed——"
"You would have squashed it yourself if I hadn't, Tom!"
"Yes, but I knew you would," he said comfortably. "Well, the next is really more feasible." He watched her narrowly. "Suppose I stayed on at the office, and we let this house, and I lived in rooms; there would be money enough to establish you and Garth in some little country place where you wouldn't have to work, and it would be all right for the boy. It would mean separation, of course, but I might be able to run down to see you every few months. It would be far easier for you, dear."
"And for you?"
"Whatever is best for you will be best for me," he said. "You know that, Aileen, don't you? I will be quite satisfied with your choice."
"I wish I knew what you want," she said, watching his face.
"And I won't tell you." He laughed at her.
"Very well," she said, "then I will choose, and it's your own fault if you don't like it. I think that as a planner you begin well, and then slump dreadfully—at any rate, your last two efforts are simply horrid. Do you think I can take the responsibility of bringing up Garth alone, just when he needs a man's hand? He'd break his heart. I wouldn't dare to tell him we meant to leave you. And if you imagine that a little freedom from work would make up to me for being without you—— Aren't you ashamed of yourself, Tom Macleod?"
He sat down on the arm of her chair and lifted her hand against his face.
"I had to give you your choice," he said. "But you don't know what a blue funk I was in!"