She laid her hand upon his arm. "Go, my dear Pip," she said. "Go."
He had a moment of hesitation, of anguish, and it seemed to Benham
as though he eked himself out with unreality, as though somewhen,
somewhere, he had seen something of the sort in a play and filled in
a gap that otherwise he could not have supplied.
Then the door had closed upon him, and Amanda, pale and darkly
dishevelled, faced her husband, silently and intensely.
"WELL?" said Benham.
She held out her arms to him.
"Why did you leave me, Cheetah? Why did you leave me?"
28
Benham affected to ignore those proffered arms. But they recalled
in a swift rush the animal anger that had brought him back to
England. To remind him of desire now was to revive an anger
stronger than any desire. He spoke seeking to hurt her.
"I am wondering now," he said, "why the devil I came back."
"You had to come back to me."
"I could have written just as well about these things."
"CHEETAH," she said softly, and came towards him slowly, stooping
forward and looking into his eyes, "you had to come back to see your
old Leopard.
Pages:
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461