"Was I?"
"You suddenly drew your brows together and looked at me so furiously that I thought I must have offended you."
"You could never offend me."
"I don't think you love me after all." She was holding his hand in hers, looking wistfully up into his face. "Do you?"
John slid his fingers away from her touch and rose. He began to pace the floor uneasily. As always, he was seeking a way out, racking his brains for a solution. But there was only one method of escape, and that lay in sudden and ignominious flight.
"Look here, Elaine!" he said, suddenly and brutally. "It has occurred to me that I ought to go away again to-night, immediately after dinner!"
She rose and looked at him with startled eyes. John went on, clumsily:
"Something important has turned up!"
"Oh, but, Bernard, that would be too cruel. I have hardly seen you!" She came to him quickly and laid her hands on his shoulders. There was entreaty in her fine eyes, upraised to his. "You'll stay just to-night," she implored, wistfully, "just for my sake."
John put her away from him almost roughly; his voice was hoarse and low.