Page:The Painted Veil - Maugham - 1925.djvu/99

 as many people die from sheer fright in an epidemic as because they get infected.”

“But I’m frightened now. When Walter spoke of it I almost fainted.”

“At the first moment I can quite believe it was a shock, but when you come to look at it calmly you’ll be all right. It’ll be the sort of experience that not every one has had.”

“I thought, I thought ”

She rocked to and fro in an agony. He did not speak, and once more his face wore that sullen look which till lately she had never known. Kitty was not crying now. She was dry-eyed, calm, and though her voice was low it was steady.

“Do you want me to go?”

“It’s Hobson’s choice, isn’t it?”

“Is it?”

“It’s only fair to you to tell you that if your husband brought an action for divorce and won it I should not be in a position to marry you.”

It must have seemed an age to him before she answered. She rose slowly to her feet.

“I don’t think that my husband ever thought of bringing an action.”

“Then why in God’s name have you been frightening me out of my wits?” he asked.

She looked at him coolly.

“He knew that you’d let me down.”

She was silent. Vaguely, as when you are studying a foreign language and read a page which at first you can make nothing of, till a word or a sentence gives you a clue; and on a sudden a suspicion,