"I have never had one since—for any one, that is. I hear the concierge. I'll tell her to set a place for you."
V
She left the room and he stared after her. Her words had been full of meaning but her voice had been even and cold.
She returned and asked: "Are you in any way committed to Gora Dwight?"
"No … yes … that is … why do you ask me that?"
"Are you engaged to her?"
"I am not. But I came very close—that is, of course if she would have had me. She nursed me after I was wounded and gassed. She was a wonderful nurse and there was something almost romantic in meeting her again … as if she had come straight out of the past. We had an extraordinary experience as you know. I was not in the least drawn to her at that time. You filled, possessed me."
He hesitated. But it was a barrier he had not anticipated and it must go down. Moreover, it was evident that she wouldn't talk, and he was too excited for silence on his own part.
"She was there … when a man is weakest … when he values tenderness above all things … when he does little thinking on either the past or the future.
"She has a queer odd kind of fascination too, and any man must admire a woman so clever and capable and altogether fine. Several times I almost proposed to her. But there is no privacy in wards. I was sent back to England and went to my brother's house in Hertfordshire. It was then that you began to haunt me. She had rejuvenated that California period in my mind—resuscitated it … but both express what I am trying to say. We had often talked about California and the fire. She alluded to you, casually, of course, more than once; but as I looked back I gathered that your marriage had been a mistake and that you had known it for a long time.