Page:The Painted Veil - Maugham - 1925.djvu/102

 “No,” she said. “You’ve inspired me with courage. To go into the midst of a cholera epidemic will be a unique experience and if I die it—well, I die.”

“I was trying to be as kind to you as I could.”

She looked at him again. Tears sprang into her eyes once more and her heart was very full. The impulse was almost irresistible to fling herself on his breast and crush her lips against his. It was no use.

“If you want to know,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady, “I go with death in my heart and fear. I do not know what Walter has in that dark, twisted mind of his, but I’m shaking with terror. I think it may be that death will be really a release.”

She felt that she could not hold on to her self-control for another moment. She walked swiftly to the door and let herself out before he had time to move from his chair. Townsend gave a long sigh of relief. He badly wanted a brandy and soda.

ALTER was in when she got home. She would have liked to go straight to her room, but he was downstairs, in the hall, giving instructions to one of the boys. She was so wretched that she welcomed the humiliation to which she must expose herself. She stopped and faced him:

“I’m coming with you to that place,” she said.