“Six months? And I am to wait. No, thank you. You will have lost me for ever then. Oh! you are cruel.”
“You are mistaken; I am not cruel. We have tried our experiment, and it has failed for me—for you, perhaps it is what you wanted. It will be all the better for you if I am not here. They—the all-powerful—will say less about you, if you are decently careful. Have you seen anything of Launa? Perhaps you will be good to her.”
“To Launa? What is she to you?”
“My friend. You cannot understand that. I—”
“A man is never the friend of a woman.”
“You have no friends then?”
“I—I am different. Why should I console her for your departure? Is she broken-hearted?”
“No,” he replied. “Why will you misunderstand me?”
“Isn’t it enough for her to have Mr. Wainbridge, and to stay at hotels with him alone.”
“Take care what you say, and what you insinuate. Launa is perfectly innocent, she never stayed at an hotel—that is, lived with Mr. Wainbridge as you suggest. Someone may have seen them dining together. You dine with men sometimes. But I must go now.”