If there were one I hadn't
thought of, you'd have me at it in no time. It was pleasant at the
Groves' because there was none of this infernal racket. Mrs. Grove, no
--Savina, is a wise woman. I was glad to be with her, to get away--"
"Go back, then!" Fanny cried. "Don't bother about me and your home and
the children. You brought me here, and made me have them, all the blood
and tearing; but that doesn't matter. Not to you! I won't let you touch
me again."
"That needn't trouble you," he assured her.
"Not ... when you have her ... to touch." She could scarcely
articulate, each word was pronounced as though it had cost a separate
and strangling effort. "You vile, rotten coward!"
The flood of her hysteria burst so suddenly that, unprepared, he was
overwhelmed with its storm of tears and passionate charges. "You ought
to be beaten till you fell down. You wouldn't say these things to me,
treat me like this, if I weren't helpless, if I could do anything. But
I can't, and you are safe. I am only your wife and not some filthy
woman in New York." As she moved her head the streaming tears swung out
from her face. "God damn you." Her hand went out to the table and,
rising, it held the heavy dull yellow paper cutter. Before he could
draw back she struck him; the copper point ripped down his jaw and hit
his shoulder a jarring blow.
In an instant of passion Lee Randon caught Fanny by the shoulders and
shook her until her head rolled as though her neck were broken.
Pages:
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283