Talbot remained in the same attitude, without moving. She had kept her eyes all this time fixed on Brooke, and knew that he was avoiding her glance. All the same, however, she continued watching him, and was waiting patiently till she should catch his eye. But Brooke, as though aware of her purpose, avoided her, and still locked away.
Thus these two sat in utter silence for a long time.
It was Talbot who first broke the silence.
"Brooke," said she, in a soft, low voice, which sounded like a sigh.
"Well, Talbot," said Brooke, in a voice which was strangely altered from the somewhat hard tones of forced gayety in which he had last been speaking.
"Brooke," said Talbot, "I am miserable."
Brooke was silent for a time. He made a movement, then checked himself, and then said,
"Are you? Odd, too, isn't it?"
"I am miserable," said Talbot again; "and it is strange, for your life has been saved, and we are out of immediate danger. Yet I am now more miserable than I was last night when your life was in danger. Can you tell me why it is so, Brooke?"
Again Brooke made a movement, which he checked, as before, by a strong impulse.