He rose, left her, and went to the window. She extinguished the light and came softly over to his side until her hand slipped through his arm.
“Why did you do that?” he said, feeling the sudden drop of darkness about them and then, answering his question, he added, “There is nothing to fear now—I feel that.”
She stood silently beside him looking out, and the touch on his arm seemed gradually to grow heavier until her body drew close to his side. In the black night, one window flamed out, feverishly alive against a distant tenement.
“Wonder what’s going on there, too?” he said moodily. “I wonder what poor devil’s fighting out his fight there?”
She did not answer, and then all at once her hands closed about his arm, and she said,
“Mr. Dan, don’t go away.”
“What makes you say that?” he said, startled.
“Don’t go away from me,” she said, in her deep voice. “Promise me that.”
“No; I can’t promise that,” he said, between his teeth.
“But you’ll tell me first—just promise that,” she insisted. He shook his head. “Oh, I don’t know why I am like this to-night,” she said impulsively, “but I know if you went away—” She stopped and something caught in her throat.