I cannot go in there; they are
together." Ethel had to take her up to her room. Well, this morbid
sensitiveness is most unhealthy. If I walk out on the terrace, she follows,
thinking that I have made an appointment to meet you. Jealousy of me fills
up her whole mind. I assure you that I am most seriously alarmed. Something
occurs every day--trifles, no doubt; and in anybody else they would mean
nothing, but in her they mean a great deal.'
'But what do you propose?'
'Unless you intend to marry her--forgive me for speaking so plain--there is
only one thing to do. I must leave.'
'No, no; you must not leave! She could not live alone with me. But does she
want you to leave?'
'No; that is the worst of it. I have proposed it; she will not hear of it;
to mention the subject is to provoke a scene. She is afraid if I left that
you would come and see me; and the very thought of my escaping her
vigilance is intolerable.'
'It is very strange.'
'Yes, it is very strange; but, opposed though she be to all thoughts of it,
I must leave.'
'As a favour I ask you to stay. Do me this service, I beg of you. I have
set my heart on finishing my play this autumn. If it isn't finished now, it
never will be finished; and your leaving would create so much trouble that
all thought of work would be out of the question.
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