"But suppose you had died … without me."
"The chances were against that. And if I had, it would have still been better that you should be away … for you. I would have come to you after death, really a spirit then, and lived ever after in your soul."
I put my arms round her, living, warm, beautiful, in the flesh.
"What a lonely, terrible year for you!" I said. "It never occurred to me … I never dreamed … and I can't understand now…."
"You remember the night I came back from Lawton's place to you? … You were mad with jealous rage, and I am so little accustomed to resist you…. Well, it was my punishment for even thinking I could leave you…. At least, I have always accepted it as such."
"I can never, never forgive myself."
"I knew you would take it like that, and now you see I can make you soon forget it. If you had felt like this for weeks and months it would almost have killed you."
She played with my hair and her lips touched my eyebrows.
"Yes," she answered, looking back at me sadly and closely. "Are you sorry?"
"No, I am not sorry," I answered savagely.