"No, sir. I had not."
"Her love and her companionship were just as precious and delightful to you as ever?"
"Yes, sir, they were."
And as Clyde said that, he was thinking back and it seemed to him that what he had just said was really true. It was true that just before meeting Sondra he was actually at the zenith of content and delight with Roberta.
"And what, if any, were your plans for your future with Miss Alden—before you met this Miss X? You must have thought at times of that, didn't you?"
"Well, not exactly," (and as he said this he licked his lips in sheer nervousness). "You see, I never had any real plan to do anything—that is, to do anything that wasn't quite right with her. And neither did she, of course. We just drifted kinda, from the first. It was being alone there so much, maybe. She hadn't taken up with anybody yet and I hadn't either. And then there was that rule that kept me from taking her about anywhere, and once we were together, of course we just went on without thinking very much about it, I suppose—either of us."
"You just drifted because nothing had happened as yet and you didn't suppose anything would. Is that the way?"
"No, sir. I mean, yes, sir. That's the way it was." Clyde was very eager to get these much-rehearsed and very important answers, just right.
"But you must have thought of something—one or both of you. You were twenty-one and she was twenty-three."
"Yes, sir. I suppose we did—I suppose I did think of something now and then."