'And he never knew, and does not know now, that you were on board?'
It would seem that he divined her thoughts, detecting the hidden importance of her question.
'No,' he answered meaningly, as he turned and looked down at her—'no; but he has not forgotten my existence.'
She raised her eyes quickly, but their glance stopped short suddenly at the elevation of his lips. It was only by an effort that she avoided meeting his gaze.
'I do not know,' she said with a short laugh, in an explanatory way, 'much about ... about it. Is it like ordinary delirium, where people talk in a broken manner without realizing what they are saying?'
'Yes; it is rather like that.'
She examined the texture of the screen with some attention.
'Do you mind telling me, Theo,' she asked at length evenly, 'whether he mentioned your name?'
Trist reflected for a moment. He moved restlessly from one foot to the other, then spoke in a voice which betrayed no emotion beyond regret and a hesitating sympathy.
'He said that Alice had run away to join her old lover—meaning me.'