"But I must!" Mary got up, pale and agitated. "Laurence wouldn't interfere with me in that way, he couldn't. Nothing could!"
She went a step toward Hilary, and stopped, suddenly bewildered and almost frightened by his look. And Hilary could bear no more. He turned away from her, bent over his papers, and said harshly:
"I must work now, I can't talk to you any longer.... Don't look for an easy life, Mary, you won't have it."
"But I don't!" she protested.
With relief she seized upon his words, her eyes lit up again.
"Why should I look for an easy life? I don't want it—I expect struggle and suffering, isn't that what life is? You have told me so—"
"Well, then, you won't be disappointed," cried Hilary almost savagely. "If you can suffer—I don't know whether you can or not...."
He took up a pen and dipped it blindly in the ink, and waited for the closing of the door.
"You are against me too," said Mary blankly.