"I wish to God he would! It isn't that. It's worse—for me. I oughtn't to be spilling this to you, Pat."
"Oh, go ahead! Get it off your chest."
"I married Jim under a private agreement. We were to live together for a month, and after that if either of us wanted to quit we were to just say so and stop being husband and wife without any legal separation or any fuss of that sort. The house is big enough for two separate lives."
"No house is," denied the sapient Pat. "I don't know much about marriage, but I know that much. It's a fool arrangement."
"I thought it would be a clever sort of trial marriage. Trial marriage"—Dee gave a short and bitter laugh—"doesn't work out so well after the ceremony. If a girl is going to experiment, she might better make her experiments before—— Oh, damn it, Pat! I don't mean it. I think I've gone crazy mooning over this thing."
"What was wrong? Wouldn't Jimmie keep to his part of the agreement?"
"No."
"Bum sport," pronounced Pat. "And he knew you wanted to quit?"
"Yes."
"Why?"