Hamilton is bereft, and wishes he did not know why. How can he proceed but to accept the punishment of a mate, wronged twice? Once, unspeakably, by a filthy traitor; again, by his husband taking revenge.
"Perhaps I deserve the suffering, the hindrance," he says, "for did I not go, without your leave? This should not be hidden; you have no cause for shame. He has every cause for shame. If I should forbear from challenging him, it is only because he is a renowned coward already." The words pour out of him, pain suffusing his voice. "How could I have left you to his brutality? How could I not have been there? Darling -- my love."
(Hamilton doesn't notice, but Ned, awkwardly, turns his back, as though this will provide the two with the privacy they so clearly lack.)
no subject
"Perhaps I deserve the suffering, the hindrance," he says, "for did I not go, without your leave? This should not be hidden; you have no cause for shame. He has every cause for shame. If I should forbear from challenging him, it is only because he is a renowned coward already." The words pour out of him, pain suffusing his voice. "How could I have left you to his brutality? How could I not have been there? Darling -- my love."
(Hamilton doesn't notice, but Ned, awkwardly, turns his back, as though this will provide the two with the privacy they so clearly lack.)