Amaldi said slowly without looking at her:
"I shall try to be your friend.... I shall try not to fail you."
"As if you could fail any one!"
Now he looked at her with a very curious expression—as he had looked at her the evening he played for her. He hesitated a moment; then the words rushed:
"Forgive me ... but it's not an easy thing to be the friend of the woman one has loved.... Are you very angry with me?"
It came like a real shock to Sophy. Her absorption in her own troubles had blinded her to this possibility. She could not think of the right word to say—murmured nervously: "No ... no. I'm not angry ... only...."
"'Only'?" he took it up.
With tears in her eyes, she said:
"Oh, Amaldi ... your friendship meant so much to me!... It meant so much!..."
This cut him cruelly. He exclaimed with passion: