Page:The King of the Dark Chamber.djvu/120

120 does my heart become. If I stay with you I shall constantly be pursued and hounded by the thought that I am impure, that I am false and faithless.

Well then, you can go as far from me as you like.

I cannot fly away from you—just because you do not prevent my going. Why do you not hold me back, hold me by the hair, saying, "You shall not go"? Why do you not strike me? Oh, punish me, strike me, beat me with violent hands! But your unresisting silence makes me wild—oh, I cannot bear it!

How do you think that I am really silent? How do you know that I am not trying to keep you back?