"I would like to flatter my wife."
She did not reply to this. She appeared to be comfortable, and he went on.
"Don't you know that I have longed to see you, and that it has not been just right that I could not?"
And still she made no answer.
"I never want to live so again. I want you always, Orlean."
"When did you leave home?" she asked now.
"A couple of days ago."
"And how long have you been here?"
"I came yesterday afternoon."
"And when to Mrs. Merley's?"