"Can't I get it out?" Buddy asked.
"No," Ruth said, "turn and walk with me home, and I'll tell you. Elizabeth knows already. I've broken my engagement. No, don't say anything. I—I just want to tell you, that's all."
"There is so much I might say!" Buddy said.
"The reason I broke it has nothing to do with anything else—except that I broke it," she explained, incoherently. "It doesn't mean anything but that. I shall never marry now, I'm going into reconstruction work abroad."
"Not—not right away," Buddy said.
"As soon as I can make my plans—but there is one thing I want you to believe. I've written it in the letter, but I don't know whether I've managed to make it as clear as I meant to. I've broken my engagement only because Mr. Chambers and I were not suited to each other."
"I—know that," Buddy said.
"So this might just as well be good-bye between us."
"If you wish it so?"