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"Should I leave?" she asked I could not tell if she was asking hi toward the door as if it stood at the end of a thousand-mile journey

"It probably would be best," he answered softly

"It’s so you would do," she said with a note of wistfulness "Entirely predictable"

"And perfectly logical"

I ht or the result of my poisoned anatomy, it seemed that neither moved first; their hands did not touchand then their hands touched She remained half-turned toward the door, Warthrop half-turned toward theopposite, and her hand lightly brushed the back of his

"I hate you, Pellinore Warthrop," she said without looking at hi him was an act of vanity He wasis twice the man you are He risked his life because he loved you You risked yours "

The doctor did not respond He stood rahtly bowed, in an attitude of prayer

"I pray every night that there is a God--that there is judg her fingers, feather light, up and down his arht spend an eternity in the deepest pit of hell with all the other betrayers"

"Whory, only curious "I brought him out"

Her hand fell away He stiffened as if the loss of her touch were a blow

"You sent hione"

"That’s ridiculous I didn’t even know about it until you toldHe wouldn’t admit it to himself--he was not an introspective man like you--but in his heart he knew there would be a price and that he would be the one to pay it"

"A price, you say A price for what?"

"For love For you lovingyou"

"But you hate hed "Oh, Pellinore How can a ent be so utterly dense? Why is John Chanler my husband?"

He did not answer She moved closer; he still would not look at her

"John knew the answer to that question," she said "And John is not half as bright as you"

"I can think of a better question Why are you his wife?"

She struck him across the cheek He received it with more stoicism than he had when she’d withdrawn her touch He barely moved

"I wish you had died there," she said ot your wish"

"Not in Canada In Vienna If you had died in Vienna, I could have played the grieving fiancée and prostrated rave John would now be happily married to some bird-witted New York socialite, and I would have fallen in love again I would not be in this hell of loving aas you walk this earth, I shall love you, Pellinore As long as you draw breath anywhere--here or ten thousandsyou, so I choose to hate youto make my love bearable"

"You--You should not--Muriel, there are certain things we should never" For the first tiled for words "You should not tell s"

"No, I want you to hear them I want you to know I still love you I want you to think about it for the rest of your pitiable life You abandoned me for a cold and heartless ood, I want you to think about it, and each day thereafter until you are old and dying alone on your deathbed, until the debt is repaid, unto the final reparation for your cruelty"

Like a falling ht be nearby, no matter how flimsy, he said, "Will Henry will never leave me"

I was back in bed when he opened the bedrooh slitted lids I watched hiain He said my name I did not answer He shut the door

I heard their voices pick up again Or thought I did I was terribly hot suddenly, anddoith a fever Perhaps it was not voices I heard at all but the echoes of theible by the Death Worm’s venom I had retreated to my bedrooone I began to sweat Paranoiadelusionsburning urine I ticked the I reached under rown any? Hoould I know if they had? It was not as if I

In the outer roo , a loosening, like a poorly tied knot unraveling, and the voices undulated in what had been loosed in me, a sensuous undercurrent beneath the surface of the vast sea in which I found reater threatYou’ll be fine one moment, and the next you may be convinced you can fly

I cannot attest to things my eyes have not seen

And I do not e them

I knoas not myself; I know in my blood swam the poison

But in the outer room there were voices and then there were none; there was no closing of the door or the bidding of good night