"I'll wait till the end of the week," said I, "then I must get back."
"That's only three days!" they exclaimed in a chorus of disgust.
"It'll be more than five weeks since I came," said I. "No—I must be off by then."
"Is there anything—?" began Cruikshank, and then Bellwattle interrupted. I could see she did not think it safe to let him continue any longer. In matters of judgment where the heart is concerned, men are not to be relied upon. They thought, no doubt, that I had been disappointed in my little love affair, wherefore, Bellwattle demanded that I should be left to her, and under the table she kicked Cruikshank meaningly upon the ankle. I happen to know that, because it was my ankle which received the blow. When, then, he took no notice of her signal, she came to the conclusion that as a race men were the most obtuse animals God ever thought of, and rising from the table she asked me to smoke a cigarette with her in the garden.
"What are you going to do with me?" said I.
She made no answer till we came to the little nut walk at the bottom of the garden. Then she turned and looked me in the face.
"Is this decision unalterable?" she asked.
I nodded my head.
"When you're miserable do you always want to go and be alone?"
In the tone of her voice I felt the shadow of what was coming. She was going to make this the last and most determined bid for my confidence. I was no less determined to tell her nothing. What good could it do? There may be a certain beauty in sympathy which makes any abasement worth while, but so far as I am concerned it is a quality in human beings I have done without for so long, that a childish sense of dignity has double its value to me.