Both were speaking composedly, but Sara was on the verge of tears, and he was not unmoved, though he successfully concealed the fact.
‘Good-bye, then,’ he said.
There was a pause.
‘I have a horror of saying good-bye,’ said Sara at last, forcing herself to speak with an appearance of calm.
‘Have you? It is one of the pains that attend the pleasures of life, I suppose.’
‘Pleasures?’
‘The pleasure of travelling, I mean. You can’t go abroad without saying good-bye, unless you wish to be thought a monster.’
‘Ah, you can joke about it. I cannot. And in a case like this, when you are going such a very long way off. Suppose–anything happened in which I wanted advice.’
‘In that envelope you will find full directions, and the address of my confidential manager and head man–indeed he is more than that, and as he is a gentleman in every respect, you will be able to apply to him as you would to me.’
‘Indeed I shall not, Rudolf!’ she exclaimed, almost sharply.