open with me: it
wasn't much to ask, was it? Not more than we expect of a stranger in
the street. But it was too much for him, all the same. And so ... now
... I have nothing left to remind me that I ever knew him. That night,
when I had seen her, I burned everything--every photograph, every scrap
of writing I had ever had from him ... if only one could burn memories
too! I had to tear my heart over it; I used to think I felt it
bleeding, drop by drop. For all the suffering fell on me, who had done
nothing. He went free."

"Are you sure of that? It may have been hard for him, too--harder than
you think." Maurice was looking out of the window, and did not turn.

She shook her head. "The person who cares, can't scheme and contrive.
He didn't care. He never really cared for me--only for himself; at
heart, he was cold and selfish. No, I paid for it all--I who hate and
shrink from pain, who would do anything to avoid it. I want to go
through life knowing only what is bright and happy; and time and again,
I am crushed and flung down. But, in all my life, I haven't suffered
like this. And now perhaps you understand, why I never want to hear his
name again, and why I shall never--not if I live to be a hundred years
old--never forgive him. It isn't in me to do it. As a child, I ground
my heel into a rose if it pricked me."

There was a silence. Then she sighed, and pushed her hair back from
forehead. "I don't know why I should say all this to you," she said
contritely. "But often, just with you, I seem to forget what I am
saying. It must be, I think, because you're so quiet yourself."

At this, Maurice turned and came over to her. "No, it's for another
reason. You need to say these things to some one. You have brooded over
them to yourself till they are magnified out of all proportion. It's
the best thing in the world for you to say them aloud." He drew up a
chair, and sat down beside her. "Listen to me. You told me once, not
very long ago, that I was your friend. Well, I want to speak to you
to-night as that friend, and to play the doctor a little as well. Will
you not go away from here, for a time?--go away and be with people who
know nothing of ... all this--people you don't need to be afraid of?
Let yourself be persuaded. You have such a healthy nature. Give it a
chance."

She looked at him with a listless forbearance. "Don't go on. I know
everything you are going to say.--That's always the way with you calm,
quiet peo