Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/350

Rh “Without seeing her?” She cut him short with a quick commanding gesture. “Mr. Amherst, you can’t do this—you won’t do it! You will not go away without seeing Bessy!” she said.

Her eyes sought his and drew them upward, constraining them to meet the full beam of her rebuking gaze.

“I must do what seems best under the circumstances,” he answered hesitatingly. “She will hear from me, of course; I shall write today—and later”

“Not later! Now—you will go back now to Lynbrook! Such things can’t be told in writing—if they must be said at all, they must be spoken. Don’t tell me that I don’t understand—or that I’m meddling in what doesn’t concern me. I don’t care a ﬁg for that! I’ve always meddled in what didn’t concern me—I always shall, I suppose, till I die! And I understand enough to know that Bessy is very unhappy—and that you’re the wiser and stronger of the two. I know what it’s been to you to give up your work—to feel yourself useless,” she interrupted herself, with softening eyes, “and I know how you’ve tried.… I’ve watched you … but Bessy has tried too; and even if you’ve both failed—if you’ve come to the end of your resources—it’s for you to face the fact, and help her face it—not to run away from it like this!”

Amherst sat silent under the assault of her eloquence. [ 334 ]