"Could you listen a little?" He smiled appealingly. "Comes a time in every man's life when he knows he's done bad things and feels guilty. That's when he needs a friend to reassure him. Everybody has to have somebody who believes he's never wrong." She shook her head. "I haven't got the strength." "Then could I just be near you a little? Maybe we can help each other without words." "No," she said. "Please go." "What's the matter, darling? You're in trouble too." "I can't talk about it now." "Something's happened?" "Yes. You loused me beautifully, too." "I did?" She nodded. "How?" "With Roy." Lennox went cold. He waited for her to continue. "Roy delivered an ultimatum. Either I go back to him, or--" "That Communist routine?" "And adultery." "What!" "Adultery," Gabby repeated. "You let something slip this afternoon.... Or did you boast?" "This afternoon! I--Oh my God!" Lennox sat down heavily. "Don't sit down, Jordan. Please go." "Sit down? I'm groveling. I'm on my knees. How in Christ's name could I have...." "Be quiet. Just go." "We've got to discuss it. We can't let him pull off a filthy trick like that. We've got to fight him." "No!" Gabby wailed. "No! No more fighting. I can't stand it any more. I feel filthy. You're like starving dogs, all snarling and fighting and eating each other. I won't be a part of it any more." "You're just scared, darling. Don't...." "You can't drag me into it again. Never again. Go away, Jordan. Go away. Don't come back." "Wait a minute," he said slowly. "You don't just mean tonight? You mean for good?" "Yes. I do." "What the hell's got into you?" he demanded roughly. "And now you're fighting with me again." Gabby pounded her fists on her knees in desperation. "Get away from me. Leave me in peace, for pity's sake!" "That's a hell of a way to talk. Hello. Goodbye. I thought we were in love." "No," she said bitterly. "It was a roll in the hay with a stranger." "For God's sake, Gabby...." "That's what you're turning it into. You're not the man I met. You're somebody else. I'm really meeting you for the first time, and I'm ashamed. I ... If you love me ... whatever your idea of love is ... for pity's sake go away!" "My idea of love isn't running away," he answered. He put his hand on her shoulder. "It's sticking together right down the line and fighting it out together." "Please don't touch me," Gabby said, shrugging her shoulder out of his grasp. "And stop using that horrible childish word over and over again. Fighting. Fighting. Fighting. That's all you know." "What else is there?" Lennox glared at her. "Will you grow up! Somebody mentions fight and you start screaming. Do you know what you're screaming about? Have you ever been in a scrap?" "Don't argue like a child." "I'm asking a question. I want an answer. Have you ever been in a fight?" "No."