“It settles things,” he said, holding her. “It joins us. Don’t you see? Before ... But now it’s different. It’s something we have between us. It’s something that ... It’s the link we needed. It will hold us together, cement us together. It will be our life. This will be my work now. The other ...”
He faced a truth. “It was just ... vanity!”
There was still a shade of doubt in her face, a wistfulness.
Presently she spoke.
“Dear,” she said.
“Yes?”
She knitted her brows. “No!” she said. “I can’t say it.”
In the interval she came into a sitting position on his knees.
He kissed her hand, but her face remained grave, and she looked out upon the twilight. “I know I’m stupid,” she said. “The things I say ... aren’t the things I feel.”
He waited for her to say more.