"No."
Our eyes met squarely then, and mine dropped. They had hit against steel.
"And this is—good-by?" I plead, while I felt that wild wind and waves were beating against my body and that the skies were falling.
"Of course!" he answered harshly. "What else could it be?"
I think that we must have stood there in silence for a minute or more, then, without speaking another word, or even looking at me squarely in the face again, he moved deliberately away and I lost all trace of him in the crowd.
CHAPTER XII
AN ASSIGNMENT
The next afternoon the city editor again said "Damn" and blushed.
"You needn't blush," I said to him wearily.
He glanced around in surprise.
"No?"