Page 480 - of-human-bondage-

could not bear to leave her, and did all he could to lengthen
them till she became tired and out of temper. He knew that
she did not care for him, and he tried to force a love which
his reason told him was not in her nature: she was cold. He
had no claim on her, but he could not help being exacting.
Now that they were more intimate he found it less easy to
control his temper; he was often irritable and could not help
saying bitter things. Often they quarrelled, and she would
not speak to him for a while; but this always reduced him
to subjection, and he crawled before her. He was angry with
himself for showing so little dignity. He grew furiously jeal-
ous if he saw her speaking to any other man in the shop,
and when he was jealous he seemed to be beside himself.
He would deliberately insult her, leave the shop and spend
afterwards a sleepless night tossing on his bed, by turns an-
gry and remorseful. Next day he would go to the shop and
appeal for forgiveness.
‘Don’t be angry with me,’ he said. ‘I’m so awfully fond of
you that I can’t help myself.’
‘One of these days you’ll go too far,’ she answered.
He was anxious to come to her home in order that the
greater intimacy should give him an advantage over the
stray acquaintances she made during her working-hours;
but she would not let him.
‘My aunt would think it so funny,’ she said.
He suspected that her refusal was due only to a disin-
clination to let him see her aunt. Mildred had represented
her as the widow of a professional man (that was her for-
mula of distinction), and was uneasily conscious that the