She had grown very pale.
"Yes."
"You've never spoken to me like that before, William—never! But—as I told you long ago, you can stop it all if you like—in a moment."
"I don't know what you mean, Kitty—but we mustn't stay arguing here any longer—"
"No!—but—don't you remember? I told you, you can always send me away. Then I shouldn't be putting spokes in your wheel."
"I don't deny," said Ashe, slowly, "it might be wisest if, next spring, you stayed here, for part at least of the session—or abroad. It is certainly difficult carrying on politics under these conditions. I could, of course, come backward and forward—"
Kitty's brown eyes that were fixed upon his face wavered a little, and she grew even whiter.
"Very well. That would be a kind of separation, wouldn't it?"
"There would be no need to call it by any such name. Oh! Kitty!" cried Ashe, "why can't you behave like a reasonable woman?"
"Separation," she repeated, steadily. "I know that's what your mother wants."