"D'you want it so badly, Ranny?"
"I want you so badly. Didn't you know I did? Of course you knew."
"No, Ranny, I didn't. I thought all the time perhaps some day poor Virelet would come back."
"She'll never come back."
"But, if she did? If she changed her mind? Perhaps she's changed it now and wants to come back and be good."
"If she did I wouldn't take her."
He felt her eyes turn on him through the dark in wonder.
"But you'd have to. You couldn't not."
"I could, and I would."
"No, Ranny, you wouldn't. You'd never be cruel to poor Vi."