This he laid on the table after lunch, and then left Monica alone that she might read it.

Knowing beforehand all that the letter contained, Monica glanced over it carelessly.

An answer was expected, and she wrote one as briefly as possible.
'Your behaviour seems to me very weak, very unmanly.

You make us both miserable, and quite without cause.

I can only say as I have said before, that things will never be better until you come to think of me as your free companion, not as your bond-woman.