"She may come…. You may say I have been ill. It is true…. I shall stay and be with you for your marriage. You want me——"
"We came back to New York for that."
"Yes…. And then I shall go away."
Cairns lingered. "But Beth, Bedient will always love you. He will come back——"
"It is not the same. You will see when he writes. I made him suffer—until a great light came—and he is the world's—not mine."
"Beth," he said humbly, "you are Absolute!"
"I shall come back—strong enough to meet him—as one of the world's women—or I shall stay away," she said.
THIRTY-NINTH CHAPTER
ANOTHER SMILAX AFFAIR
The Hatteras was warping into a New York slip the day before Christmas. Bedient was aboard. There was to be a little party for him, given by Cairns and Vina at the Smilax Club that night. The Cairns' had come over from Nantucket for the winter, and were living at the Club. This was Bedient's third trip to New York in the half-year preceding. He had not seen Beth, but there had been letters between them—of late, important letters, big with reality and understanding. She had been in Europe since July, but had promised to be home for the holidays. Vina's last letter told him that Beth would be at their affair of greeting to-night.