"But it's a frightful gash!"
"No—not so bad—let me get away quickly—I'm—I'm not wanted."
At her words, that she was not wanted, his head dropped as if she had given him a buffet.
"Elsie!" he choked, brokenly and shocked.
But she too made a quick gesture, as if she put something violently aside.
"Oh, Paul, not that—not you—of course I do mean that too in a sense—oh, you know what I mean!… But if the other can't be, spare me this now! I—I wouldn't have come, but—but—oh, I did, I did try to keep away!"
It was intolerable, heartbreaking; but what could he do—what could he say? He did not love her…
"Let me go—I'm not wanted—let me take away what's left of me—"
"Dear Elsie—you are very dear to me—"
But again she made the gesture, as of putting something violently aside.