nswer at once.'

'If you don't, I shall understand you to mean that you refuse to come
to me. You know the circumstances; there is no reason why you should
consult with anyone else. You can answer me immediately if you will.'

'I don't wish to answer you immediately,' Amy replied, paling slightly.

'Then that decides it. When I leave you we are strangers to each other.'

Amy made a rapid study of his countenance. She had never entertained for
a moment the supposition that his wits were unsettled, but none the less
the constant recurrence of that idea in her mother's talk had subtly
influenced her against her husband. It had confirmed her in thinking
that his behaviour was inexcusable. And now it seemed to her that
anyone might be justified in holding him demented, so reckless was his
utterance.

It was difficult to know him as the man who had loved her so devotedly,
who was incapable of an unkind word or look.

'If that is what you prefer,' she said, 'there must be a formal
separation. I can't trust my future to your caprice.'

'You mean it must be put into the hands of a lawyer?'

'Yes, I do.'

'That will be the best, no doubt.'

'Very well; I will speak with my friends about it.'

'Your friends!' he exclaimed bitterly. 'But for those friends of yours,
this would never have happened. I wish you had been alone in the world
and penniless.'

'A kind wish, all things considered.'

'Yes, it is a kind wish. Then your marriage with me would have been
binding; you would have known that my lot was yours, and the knowledge
would have helped your weakness. I begin to see how much right there is
on the side of those people who would keep women in subjection. You have
been allowed to act with independence, and the result is that you have
ruined my life and debased your own. If I had been strong enough to
treat you as a child, and bid you follow me wherever my own fortunes
led, it would have been as much better for you as for me. I was weak,
and I suffer as all weak people do.'

'You think it was my duty to share such a home as you have at present?'

'You know it was. And if the choice had lain between that and earning
your own livelihood you would have thought that even such a poor home
might be made tolerable. There were possibilities in you of better
things than will ever come out now.'

There followed a silence. Amy sat with her eyes gloomily fixed on the
carpet; Reardon looked about the room, but saw nothing.