He could make himself excessively disagreeable sober. Drunk,
panic stricken, reckless, I should think he might achieve a
masterpiece in that line that would make you feel like ten cents....
This is my plan. I'll go on at once and prepare him. Get him down to
his home in Virginia on one pretence or another, sober him up by
degrees, and then tell him all you have been through for his sake,
and that as soon as you are free you will come to him. He'll be a
little more like himself by that time and can stand having you look
at him.... It'll be no easy task at first; and I'll have to taper him
off to prevent any blow to his heart. There may be relapses, and the
whole thing to do over; but I shall use the talisman of your name as
soon as he is in a condition to understand, and shall succeed in the
end. Once let the idea take hold of him that he can have you at last
and it is only a question of time."
She made no reply for a moment. She sat with her eyes on his as he
spoke. At first they had opened widely, melted and flashed. But they
narrowed slowly. As he finished she turned her profile toward him and
he had never seen a cameo look harder.
"That would be an easy way out," she said. "But it does not appeal
to me. Nothing easy appeals to me these days. I'll fight my own
battles and overcome my own obstacles.
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