"I remember."
"And do you remember the first scream?… If I were a lost and freezing traveler in Siberia, the first cry of a gathering wolf-pack could not have more terror for me than that scream. And, I can hear the snapping of the chair-backs still, hideous secrets from human lips, and the scraping, panting, packing. I was hurt in the first crazy rush. I crushed the violets to my lips to keep out the smoke and gas…. Then your voice, 'Now's the time for vine-leaves, fellows,—there's a woman for everyone to help!' I heard you laugh and challenge the men to their best manhood…. And all the time, I thought I was dying…. Then your foot touched me, and I heard you say, 'Why, here's a little one left for me——'"
"Your hair had come undone," he said softly.
"And you never looked under the violets——"
"I went back to look for you. I wasn't gone a minute, but you had vanished."
"They took me away in the car—then I thought of the story and I didn't see you again, until you brushed by me in the Dryden ticket office in New York—the day before we sailed——"
"And you've been my good angel ever since——"
"I want to be—now…. Please get me a glass of warm milk."
He obeyed. From her bag she produced a powder and, at her word, Bedient held forth his tongue….
"And now I want you to drink the milk—all of it. You put down asterisks in the place of breakfast—quite as usual. I considered my self-control remarkable at the time."