“Exactly,” she replied.
I stipulated, not in earnest of course, that she should make no demands upon me.
“That was implied,” she said. “We make it explicit.”
When at last I accepted unreservedly she put forth her hand in a full, generous gesture; and the pact was sealed.
We walked homeward on a perfectly restored basis of friendship, changed our minds at the last minute, went instead to a restaurant, then to the theatre, and passed a joyous evening together.
CHAPTER VI A GIANT IN BABY SWEAT
i
Steadily the American giant grew worse in his mind. There were yet lower depths of insolvency. The passion to touch them was like the impulse to collective suicide in the Dark Ages. Bankruptcy ceased to be a disgrace, there was so much of it. Hope of profit was abandoned. Optimism was believed to be an unsound mode of thought. All of this was a state of feeling, a delusion purely. The country was rich. The unemployed were fed on fine white bread and an unlaundered linen shirt cost fifty cents.