Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/305

Rh Her lip trembled. “Do you reproach me for that? I didn’t understand … you took advantage … ”

“Oh!” he exclaimed.

At his tone the blood rushed back to her face. “It was my fault, of course—I only wanted to please you "

Amherst was silent, confronted by the sudden sense of his own responsibility. What she said was true—he had known, when he exacted the sacriﬁce, that she made it only to please him, on an impulse of reawakened feeling and not from any real recognition of a larger duty. The perception of this made him answer gently: “I am willing to take any blame you think I deserve; but it won’t help us now to go back to the past. It is more important that we should come to an understanding about the future. If by keeping your personal account separate, you mean that you wish to resume control of your whole income, then you ought to understand that the improvements at the mills will have to be dropped at once, and things there go back to their old state.”

She started up with an impatient gesture. “Oh, I should like never to hear of the mills again!”

He looked at her a moment In silence. “Am I to take that as your answer?”

She walked toward her door without returning his look. “Of course,” she murmured, “you will end by doing as you please.” [ 289 ]