Where you go I must go."
"No," he answered. "No, Maggie. I ought to have gone before. I knew
it then, but I know it absolutely now. Everything I touch I hurt, so
I mustn't touch anything I care for."
She put her hands out towards him; words had left her. She would
have given her soul for words and she could say nothing.
She was surrounded with a hedge of fright and terror and she could
not pass it.
He seemed to see then in her eyes her despair. For an instant he
recognised her. Their eyes met for the first time; she felt that she
was winning. She began eagerly to speak: "Listen, Martin dear. You
can't do me any harm. You can only hurt me by leaving me. I've told
you before. Just think of that and only that."
The door opened and Aunt Anne came in.
He turned to her very politely. "I beg your pardon for coming, Miss
Cardinal," he said. "I know what you must think of me, but it's all
right. I've only come to say good-bye to Maggie. It's all right.
Neither you nor Maggie will be bothered with me again."
He turned to the open door. Aunt Anne stood aside to let him pass.
Maggie said:
"Martin, don't go! Martin, don't leave me! Don't leave me, Martin!"
He seemed to break then in his resolution.
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