to marry him even if he should ask me.' She gave the promise, determined to
keep it; and yet she knew she would not keep it. She argued passionately
with herself, a prey to an inward dread; for no matter how firmly she
forced resolution upon resolution, they all seemed to melt in her soul like
snow on a blazing fire. Then, determined to rid herself of a numb sensation
of powerlessness, and achieve the end she desired, she said, 'I'll tell
you, Emily, what I'll do. I'll not stay here; I will go away. Let me go
away, dear, and then it will be all right.'

'No, no! you mustn't leave; I don't want you to leave. It would be said
everywhere that I had you sent away.... You promise me not to leave?'
Raising herself, Emily clung to Julia's arm, detaining her until she had
extorted the desired promise.

'Very well; I promise,' she said sadly. 'But I think you are wrong; indeed
I do. I have always thought that "the only solution of the problem" was my
departure.' Memory had betrayed her into Hubert's own phrase.

'Why should you go? You think, I suppose, that I'm in love with Hubert? I'm
not. All I want is for things to go on just the same--for us to be friends
as we were before.'

'Very well, Emily--very well.... But in the meantime you must not neglect
your meals as you have been doing lately. If you don't take care, you'll
lose your health and your looks. I have been noticing how thin you are
looking.'

'I suppose you have told him that I am looking thin and ill.... Men like
tall, big, healthy women like you--don't they?'