Ignorance is the only
thing which I cannot bear. Remember how greatly you are changed, you
are almost a stranger to me in some of your moods. I could not have
you wandering off into worlds of which I knew nothing. Sit down by my
side and talk to me. I will ask no questions. You shall tell me your
own way, and what you wish to leave out--leave it out. Come, is this so
hard a task?"
He seemed frozen into inanition. His face was like the cast of a dead
man's. His voice was cold and hopeless.
"The key," he said, "is gone. I shall never seek for it, I shall never
find it. I have known what madness is, and I am afraid. Shall we go
into the hall? I fancy that they are serving tea."
She looked at him, half terrified, half amazed.
"You mean this as final?" she said, deliberately. "You refuse to offer
any explanation, the explanation which common decency even would require
of these things?"
"I expected too much," he answered. "I know it very well. Forgive me,
and let us forget."
She rose to her feet.
"I do not know that you will ever regret this," she said.
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