In any case, for no reason on earth would I let her go.
"No, I shall not, certainly not, consent to anything so foolish," I said coldly; "I can't think how you can suggest or think such a thing is possible."
Viola was silent for a moment. Then she said:
"When I come back I would tell you everything, and you would see I was right."
"I don't know that you ever would come back," I said, with sudden irrepressible anger.
"If you go away I might want you to stay away. You talk as if our emotions and passions were mere blocks of wood we could take up and lay down as we pleased, put away in a box for a time, and then bring them out again to play with. It's absurd. You talk of going away and driving me to another woman, and then my coming back to you, as if it was just a simple matter of our own will. Once we separate and allow our lives to become entangled with other lives we cannot say what will happen. We might never come together again."
Viola inclined her head.
"I know," she said in a low tone. "I have thought of all that. But if I stay there will be a separation all the same, and perhaps something worse."
"What do you mean by a separation?" I demanded hotly.
"Well, I cannot respond to you any more as I used. I must have rest for a time," she answered in a low tone.