I--I am the wife of another." The head drooped lower, the hair shadowing the face, and Winston, his lips set and white, stared at her, scarcely comprehending.

A moment later he sprang to his feet, one hand pressed across his eyes, slowly grasping the full measure of her confession.
"The wife of another!" he burst forth, his voice shaking.

"Great God! You?
What other?
Farnham ?" The bowed head sank yet lower, as though in mute answer, and his ears caught the echo of a single muffled sob.

Suddenly she glanced up at him, and then rose unsteadily to her feet clinging to the back of the chair for support.
"Mr.Winston," her voice strengthening with each word spoken, "it hurts me to realize that you feel so deeply.

I--I wish I might bear the burden of this mistake all alone.