"Now this is exactly what I tried to escape yesterday.

Am I never to be a man, nor have the rights of a man?
You must accept the situation, mother.

Lisa is my wife, and dearer to me than all the world beside." He saw her lips move.

"Dearer?
Dearer than me!" She sat quite still after that, and did not seem to hear when he spoke.

Something in her silence frightened him.