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was hoarse with emotion. Sometimes he was so ashamed of
what he was saying that he spoke with his eyes fixed on the
ground. His face was distorted with pain, and yet he felt it a
strange relief to speak. At last he finished. He flung himself
back in his chair, exhausted, and waited. He had concealed
nothing, and even, in his self-abasement, he had striven to
make himself more despicable than he had really been. He
was surprised that she did not speak, and at last he raised
his eyes. She was not looking at him. Her face was quite
white, and she seemed to be lost in thought.
‘Haven’t you got anything to say to me?’
She started and reddened.
‘I’m afraid you’ve had a rotten time,’ she said. ‘I’m dread-
fully sorry.’
She seemed about to go on, but she stopped, and again he
waited. At length she seemed to force herself to speak.
‘I’m engaged to be married to Mr. Kingsford.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me at once?’ he cried. ‘You needn’t
have allowed me to humiliate myself before you.’
‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t stop you.... I met him soon after
you’—she seemed to search for an expression that should
not wound him—‘told me your friend had come back. I was
very wretched for a bit, he was extremely kind to me. He
knew someone had made me suffer, of course he doesn’t
know it was you, and I don’t know what I should have done
without him. And suddenly I felt I couldn’t go on work-
ing, working, working; I was so tired, I felt so ill. I told him
about my husband. He offered to give me the money to get
my divorce if I would marry him as soon as I could. He had

Of Human Bondage