He bent down to her.
"You didn't come to say that, Val."
Her wet eyes fell before his softened looks.
"I—I can't say just what I came to say."
"Why not?"
"You're gone so far from me."
"No, I haven't, dear." The dark face was close to hers. "I've tried, perhaps, but I haven't succeeded. Val—"
He drew her suddenly into his arms. She resisted a moment, and then, with a little cry of self-abandonment, she hid her face on his breast. They stood so till, with an infinitely tender movement, he turned the lithe body over into the hollow of his arm, and kissed the upturned face. She broke away trembling.
"Now I can ask you what I came to ask. Have you been caring about some one else more than you've been caring about me?"