I managed to laugh at that. “That’s not very hard,” I said. “It’s still light and he’s right in front of you.”
“Yeh?” he inquired sarcastically. “Well, well—it all certainly is interesting. Almost like a piece of fiction or a melodramatic play. If I weren’t so sure, I’d say it was impossible—if I didn’t know you so well....”
“I don’t get you at all,” I declared.
He lit a cigarette, then offered me one. “You didn’t smoke when I last saw you,” he observed.
I took one of his cigarettes and lit it, not bothering to answer him.
“Let’s take a walk down by the river front,” he suggested.
I didn’t want to walk anywhere out of the way. Night was coming on and I made up my mind that we two were not going to be together anywhere in the dark. But I couldn’t object to taking a walk, so we started out.
He did practically all the talking as we stepped along toward the river, along its bank for a short distance, and turned back toward the barracks. It was dark by the time we reached the entrance and I was trying to make up my mind whether he really did have anything on me or was just acting on suspicion. He had talked so much and really said so little of actual fact that I was becoming more confident of my position.
“Now, Leona,” he began finally, as we were standing in the dark beside the doorway into the barracks. “There’s no sense in your trying to bluff me on this. I know it’s you and I don’t see any reason for your being so high and mighty about it. Why not take me into the secret and not have so much to worry about?”
“You’re crazy as hell!” I exclaimed impulsively, although while he had been talking I had been trying to decide whether or not it would be wise to take him into my confidence, as Aunt Elinor suggested. My impulsive answer settled the matter, and I continued on that line. “I don’t know where you got this foolish idea, but I certainly don’t relish the situation in the least. Your suggestion is positively absurd! You must be insane to think of such a thing!”