"Oh—no," he replied. "I am—glad to know that you are so happy; I had thought it might be otherwise. Why did you send back the money?"
"I did not need it," she replied. "Our wants are so few, Jimmy—just the tiny house, and the garden—and the baby; I never thought I could be so happy."
"You were very unhappy when I saw you last," he reminded her.
"I've tried to forget—I've almost succeeded," she whispered, with her head bent. "Other thoughts have come to me as time has gone on—thoughts that seemed to grow first when I knew that the child was to be born. I could not tell you what they were, Jimmy; they were wonderful holy thoughts, that came most to me at night; they made everything that had happened seem so poor and so paltry." She sat for a minute or two in silence, and then got up hastily. "Well—I must say good night, Jimmy; I only waited to see you—just for a minute."
"You're not going back to the country to-night?" he said, holding her hand for a moment.
"No—we are staying to-night in London, at the house of a friend of Patience. Patience is looking after little Moira till I get back; so you see I must hurry. It would be dreadful if she woke and called to me, and I wasn't there—wouldn't it?" She laughed again, in that quick nervous fashion of hers, and drew away her hand gently.
"You must let me put you in a cab, at any rate," he said, moving towards the door. But she stopped him.
"It is only a little way, and I shall walk," she said. "I couldn't sit still in any vehicle, however fast; I shall almost run to see her. Good-bye, Jimmy; thank you for this long talk we've had. While I was waiting for you I looked all round your rooms—just peeped at everything, you know; I want to carry away the recollection of them in my mind. I shall tell the child in a whisper where you live, and what it looks like—and what a lot of books there are. Now I'm getting silly again—so I'll go."
She was moving towards the door, with yet some hesitation in her manner—some reluctance at going so abruptly—when there came a sharp knock on the outer door. She drew back, and glanced at Jimmy.
"Someone to see me, I expect—or it may be a message," he said. "Wait one moment, please."