That is her strength, her necessity, and
she must uphold it until farthest old age and death."
Daniel Randon rose and went to the railing of the veranda, gazing
intently into the hidden east. "You are right," he said, crediting Lee
with a contention he hadn't made; "that is the refuse on Jag?es."
"Helena and Gregory don't need me," Lee went on and on; "or, if you
prefer--I am no longer afraid of words--I don't need them. I believe,
in nature, that the length of paternity is measured by the helplessness
of the young. An elephant is more devoted than a crow. My obligation
was soon ended."
"Bring it down to this," Daniel's brevity was explicit: "what in the
devil are you going to do?"
"I haven't any idea beyond the realization that I can't stay here
taking up your room and Juan's time. It seems to me that for a month he
has done nothing but concern himself with my comfort. I did, in Havana,
while Savina was living, think of writing; but I have given it up
because it would involve me in so much that is disagreeable. The
amazing fact is that, since I have acquired a degree of wisdom, there
is nothing for me to do, nowhere to go. The truth, I have always heard,
will make you free; but for what, Daniel? What is it the truth will
make you free for except to live in the solitude of public hatred? When
I refuse, as I certainly shall, to return to Fanny the world where I
might accomplish something will be closed to me.
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