Cornelia steeled herself.... Yes she could! She laughed at him.
“Why you funny person—you funny Quixotic David!” A pause. “Or are you merely awfully conceited? Answer me, then: how will your staying away help the lost cause of Doctor Westerling?”
David bit his lip, turned pale, looked at his twitching fingers.
“I am a fool, am I not, Cornelia?”
“You must go on, seeing Helen. Your staying away now would be offensive. What right have you to fight another man’s battle against Helen? Don’t you see how presumptuous it all is? She knows best what she wants, David darling, not only of Doctor Westerling, but of you also.”
“Westerling is a noble man who has worked and done things.”
“You will do things also. I won’t let you slight yourself. That’s slighting your friends. If you are good enough for me—and for Helen also?——” she found something near the playful smile she wanted, “must you not be good for something?”
“Cornelia, I don’t understand her wanting ever to see me.”
He was very mute and very timid, looking at his hands.
“And who are you to judge? What do you know of Doctor Westerling and of yourself? Live, David—spread out like a tree. Then we shall all know what you are.”