“Afraid of what?”
“Of you, of myself, of life. I’ve known that long to a certainty that the play was over between you and me, but I couldn’t bring myself 156 to say the word. It’s just this I was afraid of. This!”
“You mean to tell me now that all is over?” Unconsciously this time the girl had shifted facing; quietly—again, too quietly—was putting the query direct: “That’s what you’re telling me now?”
“Yes.”
“And why—Am I the cause—have I by word or act—have I?”
“No.”
“Is it because you’ve lost your chair in the University?”
“No.”
“Why, then?”
“Because we’ve ceased to be necessary to each other, have grown apart.”