He stopped, partly because he was out of breath, and felt, besides, as if his tonsils had abruptly swollen and filled his throat; partly because she turned deliberately away from him.
He waited, uneasily leaning against the fence while she walked off a little way, very slowly; stood thinking; then came back. She looked rather white now, he thought.
“Suppose,” she said, “we drop this and finish our walk. It's a good three hours yet over to the other railroad. We may as well make a job of it.”
“Oh, Sue,” he cried—“how can you!...”
She stopped him. “Please!” she said.
“But—but—”
“Please!” she said again.
“But—but—”
She turned away. “I simply can not keep up this personal talk. I would be glad to finish the walk with you, but...”
He pulled himself together amid the wreckage of his thoughts and feelings. “But if I won't or can't, you'll have to walk alone,” he said for her.