Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/353

Rh Amherst, reddening slightly, glanced at her in surprise. “I don’t think you need fear that—I shall be the only one criticized,” he said drily.

“Are you sure—if you take such a position as you spoke of? So few people understand the love of hard work for its own sake. They will say that your quarrel with your wife has driven you to support yourself—and that will be cruel to Bessy.”

Amherst shrugged his shoulders. “They’ll be more likely to say I tried to play the gentleman and failed, and wasn’t happy till I got back to my own place in life—which is true enough,” he added with a touch of irony.

“They may say that too; but they will make Bessy suffer ﬁrst—and it will be your fault if she is humiliated in that way. If you decide to take up your factory work for a time, can’t you do so without—without accepting a salary? Oh, you see I stick at nothing,” she broke in upon herself with a laugh, “and Bessy has said things which make me see that she would suffer horribly if—if you put such a slight on her.” He remained silent, and she went on urgently: “From Bessy’s standpoint it would mean a decisive break—the repudiating of your whole past. And it is a question on which you can afford to be generous, because I know … I think … it’s less important in your eyes than hers.…" [ 337 ]