Part 61 (1/2)
”What's bad enough?”
”Everything, my child. I'm bad enough, if you like; but I'm not as bad as all that, I can a.s.sure you.”
”You don't think _me_ bad?”
”You know I don't. You know what I think of you. But you must learn to see what's possible and what isn't.”
”I do see. Tell me one thing. Is it because you love _her_?”
”We can't go into that, Maggie. Can't you understand that it may be because I love _you_?”
”I don't know. But I don't mind so long as I know it isn't only because you love _her_.”
”You're not to talk about her, Maggie.”
”I know. I won't. I don't want to talk about her, I'm sure. I try not to think about her more than I can help.”
”But you must think of her.”
”Oh--must I?”
”At any rate, you must think of me.”
”I do think of you. I think of you from morning till night. I don't think of anything else. I don't want anything else. I'm contented as long as I've got you. It wasn't that.”
”What was it, Maggie?”
”Nothing. Only--it's so awfully lonely in between, when you're not here.
That was why I asked you.”
”Poor child, poor Maggie. Is it very bad to bear?”
”Not when I know you're coming.”
”See here--if it gets too bad to bear, we must end it.”
”End it?”
”Yes, Maggie. _You_ must end it; you must give me up, when you're tired--”
”Oh no--no,” she cried.
”Give me up,” he repeated, ”and go back to town.”
”To Scale?”
”Well, yes; if it's so lonely here.”
”And give you up?”
”Yes, Maggie, you must; if you go back to Scale.”