o keep
talking about, you understand--of all this jargon there were only two
bits he froze on to, and froze on hard, I can tell you. I thought he
was going mad the way he went on. I still think he may. That's why I'm
frightened about him. He just sat there on the bed while I talked and
kept saying to himself, 'Adulterer! Adulterer! Me. Adulterer!' It was
awful.

"What he caught on to was what I told him about appearing at the Divorce
Registry within eight days and about instructing a solicitor afterwards.
He said he'd go to the Registry at once--at once, at once, at once! and
he said, very impolitely, poor chap, that he'd instruct no infernal
solicitors; he'd do the whole thing himself. He had the feeling, I could
see, that he must be spurning this horrible thing, and spurning it at
once, and spurning it himself. He was like a chap with his clothes on
fire, crazy only to rush into water and get rid of it. The stigma of the
thing was so intolerable to him that his feeling was that he couldn't
sit by and let other people defend him and do the business for him; he
must do it himself, hurl it back with his own hands, shout it back with
his own throat. He'll calm down and get more reasonable in time, no
doubt, and then I'll have another go at him about running the case for
him; but anyway, there was the one thing he could do pretty well there
and then, and that was enter his defence at the registry. So I took
charge of him to help him ease his mind that much.

"I took charge of him. He wasn't capable of thinking of anything for
himself. I packed his bag and paid his bill and took him round to our
hotel and it wasn't far off then to the train my wife and I had fixed to
get back on. I told my wife what had happened and she played the brick.
You see, the chap was like as if he was dazed. Like as if he was walking
in a trance. Just did what he was told and said nothing. So we played it
up on that, my missus and I; we just sort of took him along without
consulting him or seeming to take any notice of him. It was too late to
do anything that night when we got up to town. He made a bit of a fuss,
lost his temper and swore I was trying to hinder him; but my wife
managed him a treat; by Jove, she was marvellous with him, and we got
him round to our flat and put him up for the night. I pushed him off to
bed early, but I heard him walking up and down his room hours after and
talking to himself--talking in tones of horror--'Me! Me! Adu