"But, Ranny, if you cared for me, why did you marry her?"
"Because I was mad and she was mad, and we neither of us knew what we were doing. It was something that got hold of us."
"Aren't you mad now, Ranny?"
"Rather! But I know what I'm doing all the same. I didn't know when I married Violet."
"Don't talk as if you didn't care for her. You did care."
"Of course I cared for her. But even that was different somehow. She was different. Why do you bother about her?"
"I'm only wondering how you'd feel if you was to see her again."
"I shouldn't feel anything—anything at all. Seeing her would have no more effect on me than if she was a piece of clockwork." He paused.
"I say—you're not afraid of her?" he said.
"No. I've been through all that and got over it. I'm not afraid of anything."