"Why did you do that, Marie Celeste?"
She forced a little laugh.
"Because you're going away, of course."
"Oh, I see—well, good-bye."
"Good-bye." But still he hesitated before he turned to the door, but 124 she did not speak, and he went on and downstairs again.
Marie went over to the window. There were tears in her eyes, but it did not matter now that Chris had gone. She pulled the curtain aside and looked down into the street.
What a heap of luggage he had taken! And she remembered how he had once said that he disliked traveling with a woman because she always took such quantities of baggage!
Then Chris came out of the house and got into the taxi. He slammed the door, and she heard him speak to the driver, and the next moment the taxicab had wheeled about and gone.
She let the curtain fall and looked round the room. How quickly things happened! A moment ago and she had stood here with his arms about her, and now he had gone—for how long she did not know.
When she had asked him he had answered vaguely that it all depended on the weather, but that he would let her know.