Supreme Court had been rendered, but he had had a letter from her
sent to a private mail-box, and had made an appointment for Saturday at
a small hotel in Camden, which, being across the river, was safer, in
his judgment, than anything in Philadelphia. He was a little uncertain
as to how she would take the possibility of not seeing him soon again
after Monday, and how she would act generally once he was where she
could not confer with him as often as she chose. And in consequence, he
was anxious to talk to her. But on this occasion, as he anticipated, and
even feared, so sorry for her was he, she was not less emphatic in her
protestations than she had ever been; in fact, much more so. When she
saw him approaching in the distance, she went forward to meet him in
that direct, forceful way which only she could attempt with him, a sort
of mannish impetuosity which he both enjoyed and admired, and slipping
her arms around his neck, said: "Honey, you needn't tell me. I saw it
in the papers the other morning. Don't you mind, honey. I love you.
I'll wait for you. I'll be with you yet, if it takes a dozen years of
waiting. It doesn't make any difference to me if it takes a hundred,
only I'm so sorry for you, sweetheart. I'll be with you every day
through this, darling, loving you with all my might."

She caressed him while he looked at her in that quiet way which
betokened at once his self-poise and yet his interest and satisfaction
in her. He couldn't help loving Aileen, he thought who could? She was
so passionate, vibrant, desireful. He couldn't help admiring her
tremendously, now more than ever, because literally, in spite of all his
intellectual strength, he really could not rule her. She went at him,
even when he stood off in a calm, critical way, as if he were
her special property, her toy. She would talk to him always, and
particularly when she was excited, as if he were just a baby, her pet;
and sometimes he felt as though she would really overcome him mentally,
make him subservient to her, she was so individual, so sure of her
importance as a woman.

Now on this occasion she went babbling on as if he were broken-hearted,
in need of her greatest care and tenderness, although he really wasn't
at all; and for the moment she actually made him feel as though he was.

"It isn't as bad as that, Aileen," he ventured to say, eventually; and
with a softness and tenderness almost unusual for him, even where she
was concerned, bu