She had not removed her eyes from the spot on the carpet, or lowered
the paper screen. She looked like a statue and spoke like an
automaton.

Mr. Aylett's nostrils quivered ominously.

"Is it your wish to recommence the correspondence I have ended?"

"You know that I would strike off my right hand sooner than do it.
But if he had written to me, I should have answered his letter, if
it had been only to bid him farewell. Since he has not chosen to do
this, I cannot take the initiative."

If Winston had never entertained a favorable opinion of his own
sagacity prior to hearing this avowal, it would have forced itself
upon him now. How timely was the thought, how felicitous the
accident, that had aided him to ward off the disaster of renewed
intercourse!

Involuntarily his fingers crept nearer to the closed portfolio.

"No good could have come of that!" returned he coldly. "When an
amputation is to be performed, wise people submit to it without
useless preliminaries. The exchange of farewells in this case would
be inexpedient in the highest degree. You would compromise yourself
by continued acknowledgment of this fellow's acquaintance. My will
is that you and the world should forget, as soon as it can be done,
that you ever saw or heard of him. The connection was degrading."