I
owe something in return; I cannot see you shamed and make no offer of
reparation. Indeed, so far as I am concerned, I shall think all I lose
as nothing compared to what I gain in gaining you. Will you come? If
so, we will leave this country and begin afresh elsewhere. After all, it
matters little, and will matter less when everything is said and done.
My life has for years been but as an unwholesome dream. The one real
thing, the one happy thing that I have found in it has been our love. Do
not let us throw it away, Beatrice."
By return of post he received this answer written in pencil.
"No, dear Geoffrey. Things must take their course.--B."
That was all.
CHAPTER XXV
ELIZABETH SHOWS HER TEETH
Hard had been Beatrice's hours since that grey morning of separation.
She must bear all the inner wretchedness of her lot; she must conceal
her grief, must suffer the slings and arrows of Elizabeth's sharp
tongue, and strive to keep Owen Davies at a distance. Indeed, as the
days went on, this last task grew more and more portentous. The man was
quite unmanageable; his passion, which was humiliating and hateful to
Beatrice, became the talk of the place.
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