I can't and won't consent to
that. The disgrace is yours; it's fortunate for me that I have a
decent home to go to.'
'Fortunate for you!--you make yourself unutterably contemptible.
I have done nothing that justifies you in leaving me. It is for
me to judge what I can do and what I can't. A good woman would
see no degradation in what I ask of you. But to run away from me
just because I am poorer than you ever thought I should be--'
He was incoherent. A thousand passionate things that he wished to
say clashed together in his mind and confused his speech.
Defeated in the attempt to act like a strong man, he could not
yet recover standing-ground, knew not how to tone his utterances.
'Yes, of course, that's how you will put it,' said Amy. 'That's
how you will represent me to your friends. My friends will see it
in a different light.'
'They will regard you as a martyr?'
'No one shall make a martyr of me, you may be sure. I was
unfortunate enough to marry a man who had no delicacy, no regard
for my feelings.--I am not the first woman who has made a mistake
of this kind.
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