"Yes?"
"One in particular. It hurt me. It gave me pain."
But she had not wanted to ask what was in the letter. Then he had grown restless, sighed and turned away, but soon they had talked again and it had passed.
And now to-night he said:
"Look how detached we are in this town, which is like an island in the middle of the sea. We behave as though we had no past lives, and never expected any future. Especially you."
"Especially I?"
"You behave as though I was born the day before you met me, and would die the day after you leave me. You never ask anything about me; you tell me nothing about yourself. We might be a couple of stars hanging in mid air shining at each other. And then I have the feeling that one might drop and the other wouldn't know where to look for it."
But after a little silence the truth burst out, and he said with despair: "Don't you want to know anything about me?"
(Yes, that was all very well. She did, she did. But not just this that was coming!)
And then he told her….