"What have you come for?" she said. "I told you to go."
"I haven't gone. I'm not going."
"But you've got to go. You shall go. D'you hear? I won't have you hanging about, watching and tormenting me. What are you afraid of? What d'you think I'm going to do?"
She turned and raised herself on her elbow and stared about her as if at a host of enemies surrounding her, then she sank back helpless.
"Won't you tell me what it is, Vi?" he said, tenderly.
He sat beside her, leaning over into her hot lair, and made as though he would have put his hand on her shoulder. She writhed from him.
"Why can't you let me be," she cried, "when I don't want you? I don't want you, I tell you, and I wish you'd go away. You've done enough harm as it is."
He rose and went to the foot of the bed and stood there, regarding her somberly.
"What did you mean by that? What harm have I done you?"
She had flung herself down again.