Aloud she said , sympathetically but decidedly : `` But she is not free , Mr. Ford . And the only thing you can do is to go away in silence and leave her to her own life . '' `` I know -- I know , '' groaned Owen . He sat down on the grassy bank and stared moodily into the amber water beneath him . `` I know there 's nothing to do -- nothing but to say conventionally , ` Good-bye , Mrs. Moore . Thank you for all your kindness to me this summer , ' just as I would have said it to the sonsy , bustling , keen-eyed housewife I expected her to be when I came . Then I 'll pay my board money like any honest boarder and go ! Oh , it 's very simple . No doubt -- no perplexity -- a straight road to the end of the world ! `` And I 'll walk it -- you need n't fear that I wo n't , Mrs. Blythe . But it would be easier to walk over red-hot ploughshares . '' Anne flinched with the pain of his voice . And there was so little she could say that would be adequate to the situation . Blame was out of the question -- advice was not needed -- sympathy was mocked by the man 's stark agony . She could only feel with him in a maze of compassion and regret . Her heart ached for Leslie ! Had not that poor girl suffered enough without this ? `` It would n't be so hard to go and leave her if she were only happy , '' resumed Owen passionately . `` But to think of her living death -- to realise what it is to which I do leave her ! THAT is the worst of all .
I would give my life XXXXX make her happy -- and I can do nothing even to help her -- nothing .
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