Her silence forced him again into speech.
"You agree with me, surely, Blanche?
You must agree with me ?" She raised her head.
"I am not sure that I do," she answered.

"But at least I understand you.
That is something! You want to go on as you are--apart from me.

That is true, isn't it ?" "Yes!" She nodded.
"At least you are candid.

You want your liberty--unfettered.

What are you willing to pay for it ?" He looked at her incredulously.
"I do not quite understand!" he said.
She laughed, and the laugh belonged to her old self.
"Indeed! I thought that I was explicit enough, brutally explicit, even.
What have you to offer me in place of your name and yourself?
What sacrifice are you prepared to make ?" He looked at her furtively, as though even then he doubted the significance of her words.
"You have already half my income," he said, slowly.
She shrugged her shoulders.
"A thousand a year! What can one do on that?
To live decently in town one needs much more." "It is as much as I can offer," he remarked, stiffly.
"Then you should earn money," she declared.