"There, you see. That's the sort of thing we should always be saying to each other if I let you have your way. But supposing you did have it; if we were married we could not understand each other better than we do; so we should not be one bit better off. By this time we should have got beyond the phase we started with——"
"But we should have had it——"
"Yes; and found ourselves precisely where we are now."
"Where we were yesterday, you mean."
"Yes. We were good enough friends yesterday."
"And what are we to-day? Enemies?"
She smiled sadly. "It looks like it. At any rate, we seem to have some difficulty in understanding each other."
"Good God! how coolly you talk about it! Understanding! Do you never feel? Has it never even occurred to you that I can feel? Have you any notion what it is to be made of flesh and blood and nerves, and to have to stay here, squeezed up in this confounded boat, where I can't get away from you?"
"You can get away in three-quarters of an hour, and meanwhile, if you like, you can go below."
"If I did go below I should still feel you walking over my head. I should hear you breathe. And now to look at you and touch you, and know all the time that something sticks between us——"