"Read it. You've got it," he said, with impatience. He was trembling, aware that the crisis had suddenly leapt at him. "Oh!" She had read the opening phrase; she had received the first shock. But the tone of her exclamation gave no clue at all to her attitude. It might mean anything--anything. She shut her eyes; then glanced at him, terror-struck, appealing, wistful, implacable. "Not at once?" "Yes, at once." "But surely you'll at least wait until after October." He shook his head. "But why can't you?" "I can't." "But there's no object--" "I've got to do it." "You're horribly cruel." "Well, that's me!" He was sullen, and as hard as a diamond. "George, I shall never be able to stand it. It's too much to expect. It'll kill me." "Not it! What's the use of talking like that? If I'd been in the Territorials before the war, like lots of chaps, I should have been gone long ago, and you'd have stood it all right. Don't you understand we're at war? Do you imagine the war can wait for things like babies?" She cried: "It's no good your going on in that strain. You can't leave me alone with all this house on my shoulders, and so that's flat." "Who wants to leave you all alone in the house? You can go and stay at Ladderedge, children and nurse and all." This scheme presented itself to him as he spoke. "Of course I can't! We can't go and plant ourselves on people like that. Besides--" "Can't you? You'll see!" He caught her eye. Why was he being so brutal to her? What conceivable purpose was served by this harshness? He perceived that his nerves were overstrung. And in a swift rush of insight he saw the whole situation from her point of view. She was exhausted by gestation; she lived in a world distorted. Could she help her temperament? She was in the gravest need of his support; and he was an ass, a blundering fool. His severity melted within him, and secretly he became tender as only a man can be. "You silly girl!" he said, slightly modifying his voice, taking care not to disclose all at once the change in his mood. "You silly girl! Can't you see they'll be so proud to have you they won't be able to contain themselves? They'll turn the whole place upside-down for you. I know them. They'll pretend it's nothing, but mother won't sleep at night for thinking how to arrange things for the best, and as for my cuckoo of an uncle, if you notice something funny about your feet, it'll be the esteemed alderman licking your boots. You'll have the time of your life. In fact they'll ruin your character for you. There'll be no holding you afterwards." She did not smile, but her eyes smiled. He had got the better of her. He had been cleverer than she was. She was beaten. "But we shall have no money." "Read the letter, child. I'm not a fool." "I know you're not a fool. No one knows that better than me." He went on: "And what's uncle's money for, if it comes to that?" "But we can't spunge on them like that!"