"I—I'm sorry," he said at last. "I—I made a mistake, Rita. I made a mistake."
The sobs began anew.
"How—how could you—treat me so?"
There was no reply to that, so he stood silently and waited for the storm to pass. Meanwhile he had the good taste not to touch her again. But as the sobs diminished he repeated:
"I made a mistake, Rita. You made me think——"
"Oh!" only. Her face appeared for a moment above her arms and then instantly disappeared. "You're odious!"
"Why, Rita," he said with warm frankness, "how could I believe anything else? All your talk of friendship; why, you asked me to marry you. What did you expect of me?"
"Not that—not what you did—the way you did it."
"You forgave me once."
She raised her head, careless of the tears which still coursed.