"Leave you! What has put such foolish thoughts into your head?"
"I don't know.—But on a night like this, I feel that anything might happen."
"And did it really matter so much whether I came back or not?"
He felt her arms tighten round him.
"Did you care as much as that?—Louise!"
"I said: my God!—what if he should never come back! And then, then ..."
"Then——?"
"And then the noise of the storm ... and I was so alone ... and all the long, long hours ... and at every sound I said, there he is ... and it never was you ... till I knew you were lying somewhere ... dead ... under a tree."
"You poor little soul!" he began impulsively, then stopped, for he felt the sudden thrill that ran through her.
"Say that again, Maurice!—say it again!"