“Because she struck you?”
“No! Because I knew she was trying to take you out of the movement; and I thought for sure she would. She had everything I didn’t have.”
Bunny was thinking—by golly, it was queer! Vee had known it—and he hadn’t! Oh, these women! Aloud he said, politely, “No, she didn’t have quite everything.”
“What is there that I have, Bunny? What do I mean to you?”
“I’ll tell you—I’m so tired of being quarreled with. You can’t have any idea—my whole life, since I began to think for myself, has been one wrangle with the people who loved me, or thought they had a right to direct me. You can’t imagine what a sense of peace I get when I think of being with you; it’s like settling down into nice soft cushions. I’ve hesitated about it, because of course I’m not very proud of the Vee Tracy episode, and I didn’t know if you’d take a man second-hand—or third-hand it really is, because there was a girl while I was in high school. I’m telling you my drawbacks, to balance your getting fat!”
“Bunny, I don’t care about the other women—they will always be after you, of course. I was heartsick about Miss Tracy, because I knew she was a selfish woman, and I was afraid you’d find it out too late, and be wrecked. At least, I told myself that was it—I suppose the truth is I was just green with jealousy.”
“Why, Rachel! You mean that you love me?”
“As if any woman could help loving you! The question is, do you love me?”
“I do—yes, truly!”
“But Bunny—” there was a little catch in her voice. “You don’t show it!”