It's quite time I did."
"But I want you," he said, his voice still very low. She looked up,
her eyes lit as though with some sudden recognition.
"If you really mean that," she said, "say it again. If you don't
mean it, don't humbug me. I won't be humbugged any more."
"I haven't humbugged you--ever," he answered. "You're the only
person I've always been absolutely straight with. I've always, from
the very beginning, told you to have nothing to do with me. It's
more true than ever now. I've been trying ever since you came back
to me in London to get you to leave me. But it's too late. I can't
fight it any more . . . I loved you all the time I was abroad. I
oughtn't to have written to you, but I did. I came back to London
with the one hope of seeing you, but determined not to."
"I loved you more than ever when you came into my lodging there, but
I was sick and hadn't any money, besides all my other failings . . .
It's the only decent thing I've ever really tried to do, to keep you
away from me, and now I've failed in that. When I came in and found
you were gone this afternoon I thought I'd go crazy.
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