"No, no, I want you to hear!" she said. "Don't you understand? I had to come!"
"Yes, I know," he murmured. "I knew you'd come if they'd let you."
"Oh, but you don't understand!" Bab protested. "That isn't it! I got to thinking of it all. I thought of you, and I knew what you'd think of me. I couldn't stand it any more. I had to see you and tell you, Bayard. I didn't know Mr. Mapy was dying and I was coming to get him. Then he and I were going away."
The cloud of wonder in Varick's eyes gave way to a sudden light.
"You mean you've given up David then? That you're not going to marry him?"
"Why, no!" said Bab. "That's why I ran away."
It was Lena, the waitress, disheveled and unkempt, who brought the situation to a climax.
"Oh, excuse me!" she exclaimed in conscious confusion at the tableau before her.
"What is it?" asked Varick.