"Well," he said, "you needn't force yourself to say it would, if it hurts you, and I daresay it was kindness that prompted you to try. Still, you see, I should want a good deal, and anything you didn't mean wouldn't satisfy me. After all, it would make things easier for you if I didn't come back again."
The girl shivered. "You surely can't believe I would think of that?"
"No," and Leland made a little gesture, which was expressive of weariness; "it was your sense of fitness that turned you against me."
He let his hand fall from her shoulder. "After all, my dear, I am sorry for you."
"And yourself?"
"It is a little rough on me, but that can't be helped. Somehow or other I guess I can bear it."
Then he stooped, and, taking one of her hands, held it between both of his before he turned and flung open the door.
Carrie saw him for a moment, a tall, black figure silhouetted against the cold blue, and then he had vanished into the night.