result. I know now how much I depend on you. Oh, I
have had it all out with myself, pacing up and down that cursed railway
station. [Laying his hand upon her arm and speaking into her ear.] I
don't deceive myself any longer. Agnes, this is the great cause of the
unhappiness I've experienced of late years--I'm not fit for the fight
and press of life. I wear no armour; I am too horribly sensitive. My
skin bleeds at a touch; even flatter wounds me. Oh, the wretchedness of
it! But you can be strong--at your weakest, there is a certain
strength in you. With you, in time, I feel I shall grow stronger. Only
I must withdraw from the struggle for a while; you must take me out of
it and let me rest--recover breath, as it were. Come! Forgive me for
having treated you ungratefully, almost treacherously. Tomorrow we
shall begin our search for our new home. Agnes!

AGNES. I have already found a home.

LUCAS. Apart from me, you mean?

AGNES. Apart from you.

LUCAS. No, no. You'll not do that!

AGNES. Lucas, this evening, two or three hours ago, you planned out the
life we were to lead in the future. We had done with "madness", if you
remember; henceforth we were to be "mere man and woman."

LUCAS. You agreed--

AGNES. Then. But we hadn't looked at each other clearly then, as mere
man and woman. You, the man--what are you? You've confessed--

LUCAS. I lack strength; I shall gain it.

AGNES. Never from me--never from me. For what am I? Untrue to myself,
as you are untrue to yourself; false to others, as you are false to
others; passionate, unstable, like yourself; like yourself, a coward. I
--I was to lead women! I was to show them, in your company, how laws--
laws made and laws that are natural--may be set aside or slighted; how
men and woman may live independent and noble lives without rule,
guidance or sacrament. I was to be the example--the figure set up for
others to observe and imitate. But the figure was made of wax--it fell
awry at the first hot breath that touched it! You and I! What a
partnership it has been! How base, and gross, and wicked, almost from
the very beginning! We know each other now thoroughly--how base and
wicked it would remain! No, go your way, Lucas, and let me go mine.

LUCAS. Where--where are you going?

AGNES. To Ketherick--to think. [Wringing her hands.] Ah! I have to
think, too, now, of the woman I have wronged.

LUCAS. Wronged?

AGNES. Your wife; the woman I have wronged, who came here t