"I thought you were in the country! You are getting restless, Eric! When did you come up?"
"Only two days ago. Babs … Jack's in England; he called here during the week-end, but of course I was away. I … I thought you'd like to know."
"Thank you, Eric," she answered quietly.
There was a pause which neither liked to break. At last Eric said:
"He didn't come to see you? Why don't you recognize that it's all over, Babs? You say that your soul isn't yours and that you owe it to Jack; well, he's had the chance to come and claim it."
There was a second pause followed by a sigh.
"It's hard to explain, Eric. You see, only he and I know how much he was in love with me before. I was the only person he'd ever cared for.… Even I didn't understand how much he loved me until that night." She sighed again. "I don't believe that, after loving me, he could suddenly cease to love me."
"You gave him pretty good provocation," Eric suggested.
"But you don't cease loving people because they behave badly to you. I've behaved abominably to you. You've given me everything, and all I've done in return is to make you ill and miserable. I've ruined your work, your life—you've told me so, Eric. I've been utterly selfish and heartless. You know I'm vain, you know I'm spoiled, you admit I've behaved atrociously. But you want to marry me in spite of it all."
"I love you in spite of it all."