"Why do I look at you?" he repeated, "well, then, because I should like to give you a good kiss."
"Why then, why don't you?"
Lorimer kissed her on both cheeks, while still holding her hands.
"I should just like," he said, "to take you up in my arms, carry you off and place you in Philip's."
Dora quickly disengaged herself from Lorimer's light hold and repressed an angry gesture. She offered him a chair, and, taking one herself, said, "My dear Gerald, never pronounce that name in my hearing, and we shall be good friends still, as we always have been. Speak to me of yourself. Have you a new piece on hand? I hear that Majella is still drawing crowded houses."
Lorimer saw that he had gone a little too fast at the start. He resolved to be more cautious. A better opening might occur presently, perhaps.
"No," he said, "it is of you we will talk! You are not looking well. Work, solitude, all that sort of thing is not good for you in your present state. Come, Dora, I am an old friend of your childhood, let us talk freely, you and I. You must leave London for the country, you want fresh air. It is the opinion of Dr. Templeton, and it is mine too."
"I am very happy here, I have all that I want; don't be afraid ... I have plenty of occupation.... I work.... I try to forget."
"Ah, yes; you try to forget by surrounding yourself with everything that can help you to remember. It is a strange manner of setting about it. I have come here to fetch you, to beg you to come to my sister's in the country. I will take you there. Come and breathe the pure air in the fields, come and see the apple trees in blossom—it will put new joy into your heart."
"Oh, it would be quite impossible now ... later on, perhaps.... I do not say no."