He absence racked
him with nervous fears; her presence tortured him to agony. Weakness
in him had reached a criminal degree. Once or twice he had all but
made up his mind to flee secretly, and only let her know his
determination when he had gone; but his poverty interposed such
obstacles that he ended by accepting them as excuses for his
hesitation. The mere thought of fulfilling the duty which he owed to
himself, of speaking out with manly firmness, and telling her that
here at length all ended between them--that was a terror to his
soul. So he stayed on and allowed her to kill him by slow torment.
He was at least carrying out to the letter the promise he had made
to her father, and this thought supplied him with a flattering
unction which, such was his disposition, at times even brought him a
moment's solace.
There was no fire in the room; he sank upon a chair and waited.
Every sound in the street below sent the blood back upon his heart.
At length there came the fumbling of a latch-key--he could hear it
plainly--and then the heavy foot ascending the stairs. Her glazed
eyes and red cheeks told the familiar tale. She sat down opposite
him and was silent for a minute, half dozing; then she seemed
suddenly to become conscious of his presence, and the words began to
flow from her tongue, every one cutting him to the quick, poisoning
his soul with their venom of jealousy and vulgar spite.
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