"You will go back to-night-at once," she said firmly. "To-morrow you will
stay in bed till noon-at any rate, till I come. I promise you that you
shall not be treated with further indignity. Your friends will stand by
you, the world will be with you, if you do nothing rash, nothing that
forces it to babble and scold. But you must play its game, my dearest.
I'll swear that the worst has not happened. She drove him to his club,
and, after a man has had a triumph, a woman will not drive him to his
club if--my darling, you must trust me! If there must be the great smash,
let it be done in a way that will prevent you being smashed also in the
world's eyes. You can live, and you will live. Is there nothing for you
to do? Is there no one for whom you would do something, who would be
heart-broken if you--if you went mad now?"
Suddenly a great change passed over Hylda. "Is there no one for whom you
would do something?" Just as in the desert a question like this had
lifted a man out of a terrible and destroying apathy, so this searching
appeal roused in Hylda a memory and a pledge.
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