It's hard for her to fight the rising tide of anger in her. This only gets harder the more he fights back, the more he pushes on her, the more he tries to help by refusing her request. She shifts to cross her arms in front of her chest and grips her elbows tightly. She has to keep control or they'll never speak after this moment.

Time for a much less kind approach.

"I understand your resistance, and I hope you realize this isn't something I want either, but it's something I need. Don't you think I'd rather live in this fantasy where, someday, maybe, we could find a way to make this work? Where all of my efforts might prove to be worth something?" She shakes her head and sighs. "You and I both know that this conversation ends any possibility of that as I won't put in a bid to be your wife now that you've asked me not to speak of this to Isidor." A beat to let that detail sink in before she asks, "Don't you care enough about me to let me free of that dream? Can't you see that holding this back will only hurt me more?"