“Yes, he wrote me a letter.”
Osprey spoke quietly but she was conscious of the emotion in his voice.
“And you will accept that? You will not seek him, try to bring him back?”
“No,” she replied. “Too much has happened before this. It is over.”
“You poor girl. You’ve suffered over it.”
“I put a good deal into it.... But this had to happen. Miles must have no ties.”
Osprey’s animation returned and he spoke in a more impersonal tone.
“Perhaps you’re right. I think the young man has not grown up in spite of his years. But he may find himself. They have a kind of strength, fellows like that, a kind of terrible strength that no one suspects. I’ve seen his type before. The fact is,” he added, with a half-serious smile, “I’ve been something of the sort myself. It’s often hard to locate the origin of a fool’s folly, but I think in my case it was an experience I had when I was a boy. It wasn’t a peccadillo with me. It haunted me for years, so much that I can’t talk freely about it to this day. It made life a desperate adventure; it was at the back of most of my troubles....” He laughed. “I seem like an old fool to be telling you all this. And truly my nightmares appear absurd to me now.”
Moira laughed a little bitterly. “Something happened to me too when I was young.... But I am free.... I tore myself free from it.”
“I thought so,” he said gently. “There is a great difference in our ages, but if I may say so, we seem to have—well, had something alike to face in life. No, I do not mean just that—it’s presumptuous. I have never, I think, before met any woman quite like you. Strength and the genius for insight, such as yours, rarely meet in the same body.”