'
'To me that will make no difference,' returned his wife, in the
same voice as before. 'I have decided--as you told me to--to go
with Willie to mother's next Tuesday. You, of course, must do as
you please. I should have thought a summer at the seaside would
have been more helpful to you; but if you prefer to live in
Islington--'
Reardon approached her, and laid a hand on her shoulder.
'Amy, are you my wife, or not?'
'I am certainly not the wife of a clerk who is paid so much a
week.'
He had foreseen a struggle, but without certainty of the form
Amy's opposition would take. For himself he meant to be gently
resolute, calmly regardless of protest. But in a man to whom such
self-assertion is a matter of conscious effort, tremor of the
nerves will always interfere with the line of conduct he has
conceived in advance. Already Reardon had spoken with far more
bluntness than he proposed; involuntarily, his voice slipped from
earnest determination to the note of absolutism, and, as is wont
to be the case, the sound of these strange tones instigated him
to further utterances of the same kind.
Pages:
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422