“Oh, Lord, I didn’t know. If you hadn’t called me I couldn’t have stood it much longer.”
“Would you have called me?”
“Of course.... Or died.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I was afraid.... And I wasn’t quite dead, yet——”
“Of what were you afraid?”
“I knew you must be very bored with me.... And there was something else.... It scared me.... It still exists.”
“Tell me, Eris.”
“Yes; I’ll have to tell you, now.” They rose from the table and she took his arm.... “But you must love me, Barry!—I’ve got to be loved by you now.”
In the lamp-lit sitting room he drew her to him: “How could I help loving you, Eris?”