"Is it because you're married?"
"Yes, it is! I can't let myself go. I can't let myself care for—for what you do—to me. I came out here to give you the chance—ready to learn something—desiring to. I mustn't take any more lessons—from you."
He said:
"I am going to tell Oswald that I care for you, Steve."
To his astonishment, tears flashed in the grey eyes:
"If you do," she said, "it will be like killing something that makes no resistance. It—it's too cruel—like murder. I—I couldn't bring myself——"
"Why? Did you marry him out of pity?"
She bit her lip and stood staring into vacancy, one hand tightening on the stair-rail, the other worrying her lips.
"I tell you," she said slowly, her gaze still remote, "the only thing to do is to do nothing.... Because I'm afraid.... I couldn't bear it. I'd have to think of it all my life and I—I simply couldn't endure it.... You mustn't ask me any more."
"Very well," he said coldly. "And I think we'd better go back to the studio——"