'Yes.'

'And you never told me. Oh, Ralph, while you were telling me you loved
me you were living with this woman.'

'It happened so. Things don't come out as straight or as nice as we'd
like them to--that's the way things come out in life--a bit crooked,
tangled, cracked. I only know that I loved you, I couldn't have done
otherwise. That's the way things happened to come out. There's no
other explanation.'

'And if I had consented to marry you, you'd have put her away.'

'Mildred, don't scold me. Things happened that way.'

Mildred did not answer and Ralph said:

'What are you thinking of?'

'Of the cruelty, of the wretchedness of it all.'

'Why look at that side of it? If I did wrong, I've been punished. She
knows all. She has forgiven me. You can do as much? Forgive me, kiss
me. I've never kissed you.'

'I cannot kiss you now. I hear her coming. Wipe those tears away. The
doctor said that you were to be kept quiet.'

'Shall I see you again?'