“I will say good-bye, Mr. Alston, and go after my friend.”
“No, wait—wait. I want to speak to you, to thank you.”
“To thank me?” She lifted her eyebrows. “For what?”
“For speaking to me.”
“That sounds very humble, doesn’t it?” She laughed sharply.
“I am very humble to you, Joan!”
“Mr. Alston, do you realise that I am very angry with myself?” she said coldly. “I acted on a foolish impulse. I ought not to have spoken to you.”
“You acted on a generous impulse, that is natural to you. Now you are pretending one that is unworthy of you, Joan.”
“I do not think you have any right to speak to me so, nor call me by that name.”
“I must call you by the name I constantly think of you by. Joan, do you remember what I said to you when we last met?”