“I have been awake since six o’clock, and have had the patience to wait two hours for you to wake; you have slept nine hours.”
“And if I wish to sleep ten what have you to say against it? Do you not remember that I worked like a dog yesterday, that I had to attend to the house linen, put the drawing room in order, and then went round to all the shops to find a good flannel for your vests? You ruin my health, and will give me disease of the heart by your nasty habit of waking me up so suddenly.”
“And how ought I to wake you? Teach me.”
“If I could teach you to have a little more consideration, if I could cure you of your egotism, I would willingly do so; you only think of yourself.”
The tone of the conversation on her part, at first slightly irritated, had become angry, rancorous, and full of suppressed bitterness.
He felt it, but still hoped for a reconciliation.
He tried to feel her heart.
“Let me see if you really have palpitation of the heart.”
She turned her back on him angrily.