Then, suddenly, the storm passed and he found himself cool and
venomous. He looked at Ruth curiously. It seemed incredible to him that
he had ever loved her.
'We had better get this settled,' he said in a hard, quiet voice.
Ruth started. She had never heard him speak like this before. She had
not imagined him capable of speaking in that way. Even in the days
when she had loved him most she had never looked up to him. She had
considered his nature weak, and she had loved his weakness. Except
in the case of her father, she had always dominated the persons with
whom she mixed; and she had taken it for granted that her will was
stronger than Kirk's. Something in his voice now told her that she had
under-estimated him.
'Get what settled?' she asked, and was furious with herself because her
voice shook.
'Is Mrs. Porter the mother of the child, or are you? What has Mrs.
Porter to do with it? Why should I ask her permission? How does it
happen to be any business of Mrs. Porter's at all?'
Ruth felt baffled. He was giving her no chance to take the offensive.
There was nothing in his tone which she could openly resent. He was not
shouting at her, he was speaking quietly. There was nothing for her to
do but answer the question, and she knew that her answer would give him
another point in the contest. Even as she spoke she knew that her words
were ridiculous.
'Aunt Lora has been wonderful with him. No child could have been better
looked after.'
'I know she has used him as a vehicle for her particular form of
insanity, but that's not the point. What I am asking is why she was
introduced at all.'
'I told you. When you were away, Bill nearly......'
'Died. I know. I'm not forgetting that. And naturally for a time you
were frightened. It is just possible that for the moment you lost your
head and honestly thought that Mrs. Porter's methods were the only
chance for him. But that state of mind could not last all the time with
you. You are not a crank like your aunt. You are a perfectly sensible,
level-headed woman. And you must have seen the idiocy of it all long
before I came back. Why did you let it go on?'
Ruth did not answer.
'I will tell you why. Because it saved you trouble. Because it gave you
more leisure for the sort of futile waste of time which seems to be the
only thing you care for nowadays. Don't trouble to deny it. Do you
think I haven't seen in these last few months that Bill bores you to
death? Oh, I know you always have some perfect excuse for keeping away
from him. It's too much trouble for you to be a mother to him, so you
hedge with your conscience by letting Mrs. Porter pamper him and
sterilize his toys and all the rest of it, and try to make yourself
think that you have done your duty to him. You know that, as far as
everything goes that matters, any tenement child is better off than
Bill.'
'I......'
'You had better let me finish what I have got to say. I will be as
