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did weep all I could  there aren’t many tears left it was too bad Sam had to die  living suited him  he was so contented with himself  but I can’t feel guilty  I helped him to live  I made him believe I loved him  his mind was perfectly sane to the end  and just before he died, he smiled at me  so gratefully and forgivingly, I thought  closing our life together with that smile  that life is dead  its regrets are dead  I am sad but there’s comfort in the thought that now I am free at last to rot away in peace  I’ll go and live in Father’s old home  Sam bought that back  I suppose he left it to me  Charlie will come in every day to visit  he’ll comfort and amuse me  we can talk together of the old days  when I was a girl  when I was happy  before I fell in love with Gordon Shaw and all this tangled mess of love and hate and pain and birth began!

[Staring at back resentfully]

It gets under my skin to see him act so unfeelingly toward his mother! if he only knew what she’s suffered for his sake! the Gordon Shaw ideal passed on through Sam has certainly made my son an insensitive clod!

[With disgust]

Bah, what has that young man to do with me? compared to Preston he’s only a well-muscled, handsome fool!

[With a trace of anger]

But I’d like to jolt his stupid self-complacency! if he knew the facts about himself, he wouldn’t be sobbing sentimentally about Sam he’d better change his tune or I’ll certainly be tempted to tell him  there’s no reason for his not knowing now