"Of course you can't help it."
"I wouldn't mind if it wasn't for Jerry. I ought never to have married him."
"But, Maisie, I can't understand it. You're always so happy and calm.
How can you be calm and happy with that hanging over you?"
"I've got to be calm for fear of it. And I'm happy because Jerrold's there. Simply knowing that he's there…. I can't think what I'd do, Anne, if he wasn't such an angel. Some men wouldn't be. They wouldn't stand it. And that makes me care all the more. He'll never know how I care."
"You must tell him."
"There it is. I daren't even try to tell him. I just live in perpetual funk."
"And you're the bravest thing that ever lived."
"Oh, I've got to cover it up. It wouldn't do to show it. But I'm glad
I've told you."
She leaned back, panting.
"I mustn't talk—any more now."