“I think we’d better decide at once. It’ll be much better for you to settle it; you’re making yourself ill. I can’t bear to see you so awfully unhappy.”
“Don’t think about me; think about yourself. What will you do if——” He stopped, unable to continue.
“If you divorce me?”
“No, I can’t do that,” he cried quickly. “I dare say I’m a doting, weak fool, and you’ll despise me even more than you do; but I can’t lose you altogether. Oh, Grace, you don’t want me to divorce you?”
She shook her head.
“It would be very generous if you could spare me that. Will you be satisfied if I go and live abroad? I promise that you’ll have no cause to blame me again. We need tell people nothing; they’ll think it’s a sort of amicable separation.”
“I dare say that would be the best thing,” he said quietly.
“Then, good-bye.”
She stretched out her hand to him, and the tears in her eyes made everything dim about her. He took it silently.
“I want to tell you once more, Paul, how bitterly I regret all the unhappiness I’ve caused you. I was never a good wife to you. I hope with all my heart that you’ll be happier now.”