"I thought it would be easier," he said.
"Have you forgotten what friends we were once?" she asked softly. "You always helped me out of my difficulties then, and you told me once that you cared—a great deal for me, more than you should ever care for any woman!"
"Yes," he answered shortly, and was silent.
He would scarcely have admitted to himself how foolish his early passion had been, for it was at least sincere and there could have been no sacrifice, at one time, that he would not have willingly made for her sake. His later sentiment for her had been a disgracing and a disgraceful thing, and he was glad to think of this boyish love, since it carried him back to a time before he had wrought only misery for himself. She misunderstood his reticence, she could not realize that she had lost the power that had once been hers.
"What a mistake I made, Jack!" she cried, and stretched out her hands toward him.
He fell back a step.
"Nonsense!" he said. He glanced sharply at her.
"How stupid you are!" she exclaimed.
She half rose from her chair with her hands still extended toward him. For a moment he met her glance, and then, disgusted and ashamed, withdrew his eyes from hers.
Evelyn sank back in her chair, and her face turned white and she covered it with her hands. North was the first to break the silence.