She nodded brightly.

“Don’t you know what first appealed to me in you?”

“No.”

“Well, it was your utter loneliness in a strange country. You seemed so strangely alone in America, and you wanted so much to be friendly. I saw it in your face.”

“Yes, I did want to be friendly—with you,” he admitted, gravely.

“You did not find it hard, did you?” she asked, still smiling.

“Yes, I did.”

“Why, I gave you every encouragement.”

“I know, but still I could not know that.”

Gozo came into the ward, and, joining them, tossed upon the bed a number of newspapers and periodicals.