art.... You don't know the way a woman does it. There's nothing else
for them to think about. I've been thinking every minute of the
day--about how you looked, and what you said; and telling myself--though
I didn't believe it--that you were thinking about me just the same. And
I've been planning how you'd look when I saw you again, and what we'd
say and do.... You don't know what it's meant to me. You've never
dreamed of it. And now to come to-night--when I ought to be at home
looking after my dad. And to hear you talk about ... about a lot of
other girls as if I was to take them for granted. Why, how do I know
there haven't been lots of others since you saw me?"

"Because I tell you it's not so," he interposed. "Because I've been
thinking of you all the time."

"How many days at the seaside was it? Three?"

"It was enough for me. It was enough for you."

"And now one evening's enough for both of us," Jenny cried sharply. "Too
much!"

"You'll cry your eyes out to-morrow," he warned.

"Oh, to-night!" she assured him recklessly.

"Because you don't love me. You throw all the blame on me; but it's your
own pride that's the real trouble, Jenny. You want to come round
gradually; and time's too short for it. Remember, I'm away again
to-morrow. Did you forget that?"

Jenny shivered. She had forgotten everything but her grievance.

"How long will you be away?" she asked.

"Three months at least. Does it matter?" She reproached his bitterness
by a glance. "Jenny, dear," he went on; "when time's so short, is it
worth while to quarrel? You see what it is: if you don't try and love me
you'll go home unhappy, and we shall both be unhappy. I told you I'm not
a free man. I'm not. I want to be free. I want to be free all the time;
and I'm tied ..."

"You're still talking about yourself," said Jenny, scornfully, on the
verge of tears.

vi

Well, they had both made their unwilling attempts at reconciliation; and
they were still further estranged. They were not loving one another;
they were just quarrelsome and unhappy at being able to find no safe
road of compromise. Jenny had received a bitter shock; Keith, with the
sense that she was judging him harshly, was sullen with his deeply
wounded heart. They both felt bruised and wretched, and deeply ashamed
and offended. And then they looked at each other, and Jenny gave a
smothered sob. It was all that was needed; for Keith was beside her in
an instant, holding her unyield