merely being in love with her! Then marry her, marry her as quickly as you can, in heaven's name!"
"But if I should never find her?"
"Well, couldn't you bear it?" she said fiercely. "I bear it! Couldn't you?"
"Never marrying?"
"Don't you know how much easier that is for a man? Don't you understand—don't you see" Then, without warning and almost to his horror, for he had never seen her weep, she dropped down upon a sofa and burst into tears. "Don't you know," she sobbed, "don't you know that for a woman it's the same as suicide?"
He sat beside her and took her hand; but she jerked it away. "Let me alone!" she cried. "I told you to go! I want to be left by myself."
In high distress he rubbed his forehead. "Look here," he said. "This is terrible; I've never seen you like this and never dreamed you could be. What's the matter?"
"Nothing, I tell you, if you'll just go!"
"But there is something the matter," he insisted thoughtfully. "Your nerves are probably to blame and you oughtn't to let them get unstrung like this. You ought to"
