“Wait and see. Oh, I know one thing that has happened. I’ve been looking at you all this while trying to think what it was. You’ve grown a beard, and it looks perfectly horrid.”
“Sheer laziness. It shall come off this very day. I knew you would hate it.”
“I certainly do. It makes you look so old.”
Kirk’s face clouded.
“I feel old.”
For the first time since he had left the ship the memory of Hank had come back to him. The sight of Ruth had driven it away, but now it swept back on him. The golden moment was over. Life with all its troubles and its explanations and its burdening sense of failure must be faced.
“What’s the matter?” asked Ruth, startled by the sudden change.
“I was thinking of poor old Hank.”
“Where is Mr. Jardine? Didn’t he come back with you?”
“He’s dead, dear,” said Kirk gently. “He died of fever while we were working our way back to the coast.”