He winced from the tenderness. He felt with indescribable sensations the light pressure of that well-known once well-loved touch upon his arm.
“And then—after the funeral, I believe I had a brain fever.� He passed his hand through his waving, slightly grizzled hair, as if to assist his lagging memory—really, as an excuse for shaking off that intolerable burden of her hand. “And when I recovered I found there was no way to forgetfulness�—he heard her sigh faintly—“except through work. I worked then—I am working still.�
“Always alone?�
“Generally alone. I have never married.�
“Of course not!�
A faint dissent began to stir in him at this matter-of-fact acquiescence in his widowed turtle-like celibacy. “It may interest you to know,� he observed, with a touch of the pompous manner which had grown upon him with the growth of his reputation, “that my career has been successful in the strongest sense of the word. I have become, I may say, one of the leaders of the world of Art. Upon the decease or resignation of the President of the ——, it is more than probable that I shall be invited to occupy his vacant place. And an intimation has reached me, from certain eminent quarters�—he paused weightily—“that a baronetcy will be conferred upon me, in that event!�
“Yes?�
The tone betrayed an absolute lack of attention. She had once been used to take a keen interest in his occupations; to be cast down by his failures and elated by his successes. Had that enthusiasm constituted the greater part of her charm? In its absence Daymond began to find her—must it be confessed?—but indifferent company.
In the embarrassment that momentarily stiffened him, an old habit came to his rescue. Before he knew it, he had taken a cigar from a silver box upon the writing table, and was saying, with the politely apologetic accent of the would-be smoker:
“May I? You used not to mind!�