"But here you have Marie-Louise, and you know how grateful we are for what you have done for her."
"I have only developed what was in her. What a flaming little genius she is!"
"With a poem accepted by an important magazine, and Fox believing that she can write more of them."
Anne spoke quietly: "And now I am really not needed. Marie-Louise can go on alone."
He stopped her. "We want you to stay—my wife wants you—Marie-Louise can't do without you. And I want you to get Brooks back."
She looked her amazement. "Get him back?"
"He will come if you ask it. I am not blind. Eve Chesley is. The things she says make him stubborn. But you could call him back. You could call to life anything in any man if you willed it. You are inspirational—a star to light the way."
His voice was shaken. After a pause he went on: "Will you help me to get Brooks back?"
She shook her head. "I shall not try. He is among his own people. He has found his place."
Yet now that Richard was gone, Anne found herself missing him more than she dared admit. She was, for the first time, aware that the knowledge that she should see him now and then had kept her from loneliness which might otherwise have assailed her. The thought that she might meet him had added zest to her engagements. His week-ends at Rose Acres had been the goal toward which her thoughts had raced.