One way or the other. Either go back to the
old life or start a new one. What we are living now is a horrible
burlesque."
"What do you mean? How start a new life?"
"I mean exactly what I say. In the life you are living now I am an
anachronism. I'm a survival. I'm out of date and in the way. You would
be freer without me."
"That's absurd."
"Is the idea so novel? Is our marriage the only failure in New York?"
"Do you mean that we ought to separate?"
"Only a little more, a very little more, than we are separated now.
Never see each other again instead of seeing each other for a few
minutes every day. It's not a very big step to take."
Ruth sat down and rested her chin on her hand, staring at nothing. Kirk
went to the window and looked out.
Over the park the sky was black. In the room behind him the light had
faded till it seemed as if night were come. The air was heavy and
stifling. A flicker of lightning came and went in the darkness over the
trees.
He turned abruptly.
"It is the only reasonable thing to do. Our present mode of life is a
farce. We are drifting farther apart every day. Perhaps I have changed.
I know you have. We are two strangers chained together. We have made a
muddle of it, and the best thing we can do is to admit it.
"I am no good to you. I have no part in your present life.
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