"What,then?" asked Strickland.

I tried to curlmy lip.

"Well, ifyou acknowledge that, there doesn't seem much more to be said. "

"I don'tthink there is. "

I felt that I wasnot carrying out my embassy with any great skill. I was distinctly nettled.

"Hang itall, one can't leave a woman without a bob. "

"Whynot?"

"How isshe going to live?"

"I'vesupported her for seventeen years. Why shouldn't she support herself for a change?"

"Shecan't. "

"Let hertry. "

Of course therewere many things I might have answered to this. I might have spoken of theeconomic position of woman, of the contract, tacit and overt, which a manaccepts by his marriage, and of much else; but I felt that there was only onepoint which really signified.

"Don't youcare for her any more?"

"Not abit, " he replied.

The matter wasimmensely serious for all the parties concerned, but there was in the manner ofhis answer such a cheerful effrontery that I had to bite my lips in order notto laugh. I reminded myself that his behaviour was abominable. I worked myselfup into a state of moral indignation.

“你还要说什么？”思特里克兰德说。

我对他撇了撇嘴。

“没什么了，如果你都承认了，好象也没有什么要多说的了。”

“我想也是。”

我觉得我这次执行任务手腕太不高明。我显然有些冒火了。

“别的都不要说了，你总不能一个铜板也不留就把你女人甩了啊！”

“为什么不能？”

“她怎么活下去呢？”

“我已经养活她十七年了。为什么她不能换换样，自己养活自己呢？”

“她养活不了。”

“她不妨试一试。”

我当然有许多话可以答辩。我可以谈妇女的经济地位，谈男人结婚以后公开或默认地承担的义务，还有许许多多别的道理，但是我认为真正重要的只有一点。

“你还爱她不爱她了？”

“一点儿也不爱了，”他回答。

不论对哪方面讲，这都是一件极端严肃的事，可是他的答话却带着那么一种幸灾乐祸、厚颜无耻的劲儿；为了不笑出声来，我拼命咬住嘴唇。我一再提醒自己他的行为是可恶的。我终于激动起自己的义愤来。