“It’s relief, I suppose,” she said brokenly. “It’s disgusting that money should be so important.”
“And do you need it so badly?” Bruce asked gravely.
“I need it if I am to go on living.” And she told him of the doctor’s warning.
“You must go away at once.” Brace’s voice was sharp with anxiety. “I wish you could come West,” he added wistfully.
“I’d love it, but it is out of the question; it’s too far—too expensive.”
Bruce’s black eyebrows came together. His poverty had never seemed so galling, so humiliating.
“I must go.” She got up quickly. “I’m late. Do my eyes look very badly?”
“They’re all right.” He turned abruptly for his hat. He knew that if he looked an instant longer he should kiss her! What was the matter with him anyhow? he asked himself for the second time. Was he getting maudlin? Not content with talking a strange girl to death he would put on the finishing touch by kissing her. It was high time he was getting back to the mountains!
He walked with her to the office, wishing with all his heart that the blocks were each a mile long, and in his fear lest he miss a single word she had to say he pushed divers pedestrians out of his way with so little ceremony that only his size saved him from unpleasant consequences.
It was incredible and absurd that he should find it so hard to say good-bye to a girl he had just met, but when they reached the steps it was not until he had exhausted every infantile excuse he could think of for detaining her just an instant longer that he finally said reluctantly: