“Eh, dear! but man and maid should come together.”
I said nothing to that.
“You brood overmuch on Nettie, dear. If I could see you married to some sweet girl of a woman, some good, kind girl———”
“Dear mother, I’m married enough. Perhaps some day——— Who knows? I can wait.”
“But to have nothing to do with women!”
“I have my friends. Don’t you trouble, mother. There’s plentiful work for a man in this world though the heart of love is cast out from him. Nettie was life and beauty for me—is—will be. Don’t think I’ve lost too much, mother.”
(Because in my heart I told myself the end had still to come.)
And once she sprang a question on me suddenly that surprised me.
“Where are they now?” she asked.
“Who?”