I think it worth while to put that little sentence in italics. It was a home stroke, and took away the satyr’s breath.
“Edith, for shame!” he cried. “You know you do not mean what you say. If I thought you meant it, I should break with you for ever. I tell you again, Mrs. Haldane is above reproach, and it is simply disgraceful to couple her name, in such a manner, with mine. And you would infer, now, that I have influenced your own life for evil; you would mock at my spiritual pretensions, and brand me as a base, unworthy creature. Well, Edith, perhaps you are right. Perhaps I have given you cause. I have shown you that I love you, beyond position, beyond the world, beyond even my own self-respect, and this is my return.”
I could have sprung out and strangled the fellow, he was so cruel and yet so plausible, so superbly selfish and yet so completely self-deceiving; and I saw that with every word he uttered he gained a fresh hold over the heart of the pretty fool who was listening. While he spoke, she sobbed as if her little heart was ready to break; and when he ceased, she eagerly held out her arms.
“Oh, Charles, don’t say that! Don’t say that my love has been a curse to you!”
“You drive me to say it,” he answered moodily; “you make me miserable with your jealousy, your suspicion.”
“Don’t say that I make you miserable—don’t!” she sobbed.
“You used to be so different,” he continued, still preserving his tone of moral injury; “you used to be so interested in my work, my daily duties. Now, you do nothing but reproach me; and why? Because I have found an old friend, who happens to be of your own sex, but who is far above the folly of a meaningless flirtation, and who little deserves the cruel slur you cast upon her. Am I, then, to have no friends, no acquaintances? Is every step I take to be measured by the unreasoning suspicion of a jealous woman?”
By this time she had put her arms about his neck, and was sobbing on his breast.
“Oh, Charles, don’t be so hard with me! It is all because I love you—ah, so much!”
“But you should conquer these wicked feelings——”