"You've been a long time about it," she answered, with the same simplicity....
In truth, life and all issues had been pretty well simplified and fused down for both these people: for Merry, who was as nearly as possible incandescent, and for the woman, who was merely burned out.
"I looked everywhere," he affirmed, in childlike earnestness. "I looked at Samarang. I looked at Batavia. I looked at Palembang. That's a mean sort of place, don't you think?... Did you go to Palembang?"
"No," said the girl with the pink wristbands.
"I don't see how I missed you."
"You missed me, all right. You missed me at the start—at Singapore. That was the time to find me."
He drew his breath as if in his sleep she had prodded some old wound, and the dent between his brows deepened.
"I did look for you at Singapore."
"You looked too late," said the girl with the pink wristbands.