“Now I must really go,” said he. “Good-bye, Elly dear, good-bye; thank you a thousand times for what you have done for me.”
“Good-bye, Vincent, good-bye.”
He made a movement as if he wanted to kiss her, and she threw her arms round his neck and kissed him on both cheeks.
“Think of me sometimes, will you? I am fond of you, and I am really not fond of many persons; I can count my affections easily enough. Well, good-bye, Elly, good-bye, and perhaps, au revoir.”
Once more she kissed him, her eyes full of tears, and as he went she threw herself on the sofa, and nodded her head to him for the last time. He disappeared, closing the door behind him.
For a while she sat staring at that door. And when, after a few moments, she heard his cab move away, she wondered that he had kissed her so unreservedly and coolly in that final moment of parting. She wanted to muse about him, because she did not understand him; she wanted, too, to probe her own feelings and discover if she really loved him, but she felt tired and her head ached, and with a weary sigh she fell back in the cushions, covering her face with her hands.
It was the third day after Vincent’s departure, but although he had left the house, there had been another tiff about him between Eline and Betsy, who had spoken her mind about her “wretch of a cousin” in the presence of visitors, and to Eline’s intense annoyance. The time had now come, Betsy thought, when she should once for all let Eline know that she was mistress in that house; and so, with the full intention of doing so, she walked up-stairs in the evening into Eline’s boudoir.
“What do you want?” Eline said haughtily. “I should like to be alone.”
“May I remind you that you are in my house, and that if I feel inclined to come here I shall do so! I have something to say to you.” [[233]]
“Make haste then, for I tell you again I wish to be alone!”