"Just one moment, Jim, and I'll be done! When they had learned their
lesson, when they had found out what sorrow it brought, when they knew
that there was only loss and shame in it for them--then it was too late!
Then men, and women, too, expected them to go on giving; there was
nothing else to do. Oh," said Julia, in a heartbreaking voice, bringing
her locked hands down upon the table as if she were in physical agony,
"if the law would only take a hand before and not afterward! Or if, when
they are sick to death of men, they could believe that time would wash
it all away; that there was clean, good work for them somewhere in the
world!"
"My darling, why distress yourself about what can't possibly concern
you?" Jim said. Julia stared at him thoughtfully for a few silent
seconds.
"It _does_ concern me. That's how I bought my wisdom," she said quietly
then, with no emotion deeper than a mild regret visible in her face.
Voice and manner were swept bare of passion; she seemed infinitely
fatigued. "That's why I can't marry you, Jim."
"What do you mean?" Jim said easily, uncomprehendingly, the indulgent
smile hardly stricken from his lips.
Pages:
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324