"
And, all the while, that wretched fellow knew--by a curious
instinct that runs between human beings living together--exactly
what was going on. And he remained dumb; he stretched out no
finger to help himself. All that he required to keep himself a
decent member of society was, that the girl, five thousand miles
away, should continue to love him. They were putting a stopper
upon that.
I have told you that the girl came one night to his room. And that
was the real hell for him. That was the picture that never left his
imagination--the girl, in the dim light, rising up at the foot of his
bed. He said that it seemed to have a greenish sort of effect as if
there were a greenish tinge in the shadows of the tall bedposts that
framed her body. And she looked at him with her straight eyes of
an unflinching cruelty and she said: "I am ready to belong to
you--to save your life."
He answered: "I don't want it; I don't want it; I don't want it."
And he says that he didn't want it; that he would have hated
himself; that it was unthinkable. And all the while he had the
immense temptation to do the unthinkable thing, not from the
physical desire but because of a mental certitude.
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