"All right; don't let's try to argue it," he laughed, with what he
considered an admirable show of magnanimity. "I hate arguments,
anyhow; I'd much rather have a goodnight kiss."
But when he stooped over her Alaire held him off and turned her
head. "No!" she said.
"You haven't kissed me for--"
"I don't wish to kiss you."
"Don't be silly," he insisted. This suggestion of physical
resistance excited his love of conquest and awoke something like
the mood of a lover--such a lover as a man like Ed could be. For a
moment he felt as if Alaire were some other woman than his wife, a
woman who refused and yet half expected to be overcome; therefore
he laughed self-consciously and repeated, "Come now, I want a
kiss."
Alaire thrust him back strongly, and he saw that her face had
whitened. Oddly enough, her stubbornness angered him out of all
reason, and he began a harsh remonstrance. But he halted when she
cried:
"Wait! I must tell you something, Ed. It's all over, and has been
for a long time. We're going to end it."
"End it?"
"We can't go on living together. Why should we?"
"So? Divorce? Is that it?"
Alaire nodded.
"Well, I'll be damned!" Ed was dumfounded.
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