"Leave her alone, Jerrold, if you can't have her."
"Leave her alone? I am leaving her alone. I've got to leave her alone, if we both die of it."
"She ought to go away," Eliot said.
"She shan't go away unless I go with her. And I can't."'
"Well, then, it's an impossible situation."
"It's a damnable situation, but it's the only decent one. You forget there's Maisie."
"No, I don't. Maisie doesn't know?"
"Oh Lord, no. And she never will."
"You ought to tell her."
Jerrold was silent.