"Then what do you ask for? Just tell me, and whatever it is--"
"It's that, since you can't abandon her, you abandon me."
"_What_?"
She repeated the words more firmly.
"_Never_."
"Then I'm afraid it will be for me to abandon you." She gave him a
little nod. "Good-by."
She had turned and taken a step or two along the pavement before his
astonishment allowed him to overtake her.
"Edith, for God's sake, what do you mean? You're not crazy, are you?"
"Quite possibly I am; I can't tell yet. Or perhaps I _can_ tell. It's
like this," she went on, after an instant's thinking. "A half-hour ago,
while I was talking to that--that poor creature--before you came up--I
was quite aware of being like a woman with a dose of cyanide of
potassium in her hand, and doubting whether or not to take it. Well, I
took it. I took it and I--died. That is, the Edith who was your
wife--died. What survives of her personality is something else. I don't
know what it is yet--it's too soon to say--but it isn't your wife....
It's--it's something like that."
"Oh, don't!" he groaned. "Don't talk that way. Come in. You can't stay
out here."
She looked over at the house again. He thought she shuddered. "I can't
stay out here; but I don't have to go in--there."
"What do you mean? Where are you going?"
"Just now I'm going to Aunt Emily's."
"Very well. I'll send a carriage for you after dinner--if you stay so
late."
"No; don't do that."
"Do you mean--?"
"I mean that I may stay there for two or three days--perhaps longer.
After that I'll--I'll see."
"You'll see--what?"
"Where to go next."
"Oh, come, Edie, let's talk sense. You know I can't allow that."
She smiled again, with that queer, forlorn smile that seemed to stab
him. "I'm afraid the authority is out of your hands--now."
He let that pass.
"Even so, there are the children. Think of them."
"I _am_ thinking of them--which is why I must hurry away. They'll be
here in a minute; and I--I can't see them yet. I shouldn't be able to
bear it."
"And do you think you'll be able to bear our being separated for two or
three days, when you _know_ I adore you? Why, you'll break down within
an hour."
"That's just it. That's why I must hurry. I shall break down within half
an hour. You don't suppose I can go on like this? I'm almost breaking
down now. I must get to Aunt Emily's before--"