"Don't be—friendly, then!" she retorted, and with a quick appealing raising of her eyes she laid her hand on his.
"I must talk frankly with her!" he said to himself, with a groaning of the spirit. "She will not face the situation, and there can be no solution to it—no possible solution!" He turned heroically, resolved to lay down the law, and his stern eyes encountered hers, so troubling and so untroubled, tempting and yielding—glorified and inconscient.
"I am so happy!" she said; and, in an excess of emotion, as if suffocating, her eyes closed and her breast rose in a long sigh. Arguments and fears went riotously head over heels in flight.
It was almost at the end of the dinner before, his calm returning, he said:
"Let's talk of your career. Do you know, I believe you'd do big things!"
She glanced up suspiciously, judging the tone rather than the words.
"You say that because you wish to get rid of me!" she said abruptly.
He protested vehemently to the contrary.
"Yes, yes, you would! I'm beginning to know you and your tricks! But look out! I warn you, you will never get rid of me!" She rose impatiently. "I don't like it here. We do nothing but quarrel. Come!" Outside his automobile was waiting. "No, no; let's walk a little. It's good to be among people who are natural!"
"I have a meeting I can not put off—at nine; I told you," he said, irritated and impatient to be free.