"Do something," a voice seemed to tell him. "You'll regret ... all your life you'll regret."
He turned and held again her hands in his.... "Rachel—dear—tell me——"
Her hands were chill and lifeless. Her voice caught. "Oh! Dr. Chris!..." Then she suddenly stepped back from him—
"It's all right.... I'm all right. Come again soon, Dr. Chris dear—come soon."
He left her and found his way into the hot, breathless street.
After he had gone Rachel sat, staring beyond the room out on to the white walls of the houses and the green branches of the trees in the square.
Roddy came in.
All the afternoon he had been thinking about her; at one moment he was furious with the discomfort that life was now becoming to him, at another moment he was imagining little plans that would sweep all the discomfort away.
All this spring they had been miserable together. Now was beginning a time that was always jolly in London and yet he could not enjoy a moment of it. Did she dislike him instead of liking him, or did he like her instead of loving her, it would all be so easy—just the same as any other couple.
Ever since that silly Nita incident there had been this restraint, and yet how could that be the cause?