"Major Herne, I—I don't understand. You—you can say good-bye, of course—if you wish. But—it will be by your own choice if you do."
"What?" he said.
She snatched her hand suddenly from him.
"I suppose you mean to punish me, to make me pay for my—idiocy. You—you think—"
"I think that either you or I must be mad," said Herne.
"Then it's you!" flung back Betty half hysterically. "To imagine for one moment that I—that I meant—that!"
"Meant what?" A sudden note of sternness made itself heard in Herne's voice. He moved a step forward, and took her shoulders between his hands, looking at her closely, unsparingly. "Betty," he said, "let us at least understand one another! Tell me what you meant just now!"
She faced him defiantly
"I didn't mean anything."
He passed that by.