The things we do!

"One might escape by going there!" she pointed.
"They are my own, who sleep there," he said simply but grimly. "I
wish it might be your choice; but not now; not yet. We've a lot of
living to do yet, both of us."
She caught no note of relenting in his voice. He looked large and
strong, standing there at the entrance to his own home. At length
he turned to her, sweeping out his arm once more in a gesture
including the prospect which lay before them.
"If you could only find it in your heart," he exclaimed, "how much
I could do for you, how much you could do for me. Look at all
this. It's a home, but it's just a desert--a desert--the way it is
now."
"Has it always been so?"
"As long as I can remember."
"So you desire to make all life a desert for me! It is very noble
of you!"
Absorbed, he seemed not to hear her. "Suppose you had met me the
way people usually meet--and you some time had allowed me to come
and address you--could you have done that, do you reckon?" He
turned to her, an intent frown on his face, unsmiling.


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