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I was not there that he would soon forget. He looked at me with sad, stern eyes. "That's not true! You know it's not true. I am not the sort to forget. And if there is no one else, why should I try? Evelyn, you don't know me, if you think one `no' will put me off. I said I would wait seven years, and I meant what I said. If you go away, I shall follow. What's this nonsense of leaving no address? Do you imagine, if I choose to look for you, you can hide yourself from ME?" He looked so big and masterful that for a moment I felt a qualm of doubt; then I comforted myself with the reflection that it would be impossible to discover what did not exist. For a period of time Evelyn Wastneys was about to disappear from the face of the earth. The spinster of the basement flat was about to take her place. "I don't love you! I don't love you!" I repeated helplessly. "I have never once thought of you except as a--a rather cross, overbearing man who had taken a dislike to me at first sight. How can I turn round all in a moment and look upon you as a--a lover? And I have my friend and my work--and we have just taken our house. I don't want to be married! I couldn't be married even if I cared!" "You are going to be married. You are going to marry me! What is this `work' of which you talk? A woman's work is to make a home, and to help a man to find his soul. Evelyn, do you imagine for one moment that I am going to let you go?" He was himself again: self-confident, resolute, overbearing. I took refuge in silence, and argued no more. "Have you enjoyed your drive?" Delphine asked. "Was Ralph civil? It was unfortunate that I had to leave you alone. Where did you buy your bonnet, Evelyn? I must get one like it for myself. Does your head ache, dear? You look quite pale." I said it did. _Something_ ached! It kept me awake all night with a dreary, heavy pain. I lay and thought, and thought, until my brain was in a whirl. Had I been to blame in the past? Honestly I could not see that I had. What was I to do in the future? Must I tell Charmion? How could I ever return to "Pastimes"? Round and round the questions whirled in a never-ending circle, but no solutions came. Then I said my prayers, with a special plea for guidance for a very lonely, very worried girl, and gradually, surely, I grew calmer. I reminded myself that there was no need to worry over the future; and that all I had to do for
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