Meredith Beyers

“ When I turned the sheet of paper over Helen uttered a cry. I stood up in astonishment and found myself facing Helen and Bronty and three or four strange men. Two of them were policemen. They were looking with such ghastly and horrified expressions, not at me, but at the pen I had just laid down.
Oh, God, I am growing weaker. Even now the pen seems to weigh fifteen or twenty pounds. It is like trying to write with a steel rail. But I must tell you what she said—Helen—when they were staring into the den. She pointed with her fingers. ”

“ I feel all hollow and lonesome as if the whole world were against me. No one understands. Why, if only Helen would listen to me. If she would only tell me the trouble, perhaps I could say something or do something that would make it all right again. No one wants to have things smooth and peaceful more than I do. ”

“ I admit that I was a bit hasty in losing my temper at Bronty; but when a man takes it into his head to talk as he did to my wife, right under my nose, I'm going to rough him up a bit, even though he is my friend and my guest. ”