I said: "Lea is here. Do you recognize her voice?" I bent over her as though with a great secret. "Nanette, she and Alan love each other. We're just waiting for you to get well—it won't be so long now. Then we're going home."
"No," she murmured. "They say it won't be long now. And they say—"
"San is here with the tower. But he stays always in it. That's why he hasn't been to see you."
Oh, I had phrased it wrongly! She shuddered.
"Edward—that time, you remember—when I said good-by over the aerial? I—I thought that it was—really good-by. You understand?" She was stammering.
"I don't understand, Nanette."
"I mean—I—I told you that I loved you. That was very wrong of me. I do not—I do not love you. I n-never did."
She could not see the rush of moisture that clouded my eyes. I gulped, but I managed a laugh.
"You can't get out of it that way. Of course you love me! I'll make you!"
But she held me off. "No."