"I am so sorry," she said, and her voice faltered. "Oh, if I could—but how absurd!"
Medland turned suddenly and looked her in the face.
"You will help some one," he answered, "some better man. And I—I beg your pardon. Come."
Alicia asked herself afterwards if she ought to be ashamed of what she did then. She caught the Premier by the arm, and said,
"But I want to stay with you." And then she sat trembling to hear his answer.
For a moment he did not answer. He passed his hand over his brow; then he smiled sadly.
"Nearly twenty years ago a woman said that to me," he said. "But she—well, it wasn't to talk politics."
"Oh, to call it talking politics!" she answered, with a little gasping laugh.
With another swift turn of his head, he bent his eyes on hers. She turned her head away, and neither spoke. Alicia played nervously with one glove which she had stripped off, while Medland gravely watched her face, beautiful in its pure outline and quivering with unwonted emotions. With a start he roused himself.