"So you don't really dare express your kindly regard for me fearing I might again mistake it for something deeper." He was still laughing, and she lifted her gray eyes in silence for a moment, then:
"There is nothing in the world deeper than my regard for you—if you will let it be what it is, and seek to make nothing less spiritual out of it."
"Do you mean that?" he asked, his face altering.
"Mean it? Why of course I do, Mr. Quarren."
"I thought I spoiled that for both of us," he said.
"I didn't say so. I told you that I didn't know what you had done. I've had time to reflect. It—our friendship isn't spoiled—if you still value it."
"I value it above everything in the world, Strelsa."
There was a silence. The emotion in his face and voice was faintly reflected in hers.
"Then let us have peace," she said unsteadily. "I have—been—not very happy since you—since we——"
"I know. I've been utterly miserable, too." He lifted one of her hands and kissed it, and she changed colour but left her hand lying inert in his.