"He's been gone hours," Ruth said, plaintively, and Hilda understood her to refer to Bonbright.
"Time he was coming back, then," she said.
"He—won't come back—ever…. You don't know him the way I do." There was something very like jealousy in Ruth's tone. "He's good—and gentle—but if he makes up his mind—If he hadn't been that way do you think he could have lived with me the way he HAS?"
"He must have loved you a heap," Hilda said, enviously.
"He did…. Oh, Hilda, it wasn't wrong to marry him for what I did. …
I hadn't any right to consider him—or me. I hadn't, had I?"
"I don't belong," said Hilda. "If I wasn't a wicked capitalist I might agree with you—MAYBE. I'm not going to scold you for it—because you THOUGHT it was right, and that always makes the big difference…. You thought you were doing something splendid, didn't you—and then it fizzled. It must have been tough—I can get that part of it…. To find you'd married him and couldn't get out of it—and that he didn't have any thousands of men to—tinker with…. Especially when you loved Mr. Dulac." Hilda added the last sentence with shrewd intent.
"I don't love him—I don't…. If you'd seen him—and Bonbright…"
"But you did love him," Hilda said, severely Ruth nodded dumbly.
"You're sure Bonbright won't come back?"
"Never," said Ruth.