“Now I am going to ask you something,” she said, when they turned for the third time.  “You may think it a strange question, but you must please answer it.  To me it is rather important.  Just what were your feelings for Beatrice?”

“I think I was fond of her,” he answered thoughtfully.  “I know that I hated her when she came in from the schoolhouse—­when I understood.  Both of us, in the days of our joint poverty, had scoffed at principles, had spoken boldly enough of sin, but I can only say that when she came, when I looked into her eyes, I seemed to have discovered a new horror in life.  I can’t analyse it.  I am not sure, even now, that I was not more of a beast that I had thought myself.  I am not sure that part of my rage was not because she had escaped and I couldn’t.”

“But your personal feelings—­that is what I want to know about?” she persisted.

He dug down into his consciousness to satisfy her.

“Think of what my life in London had been,” he reminded her.  “There wasn’t a single woman I knew, with whom I could exchange a word.  All the time I loved beautiful things, and beautiful women, and the thought of them.  I have gone out into the streets at nights sometimes and hung around the entrances to theatres and restaurants just for the pleasure of looking at them with other men.  It didn’t do me any good, you know, but the desire was there.  I wanted a companion like those other men had.  Beatrice was the only woman I knew.  I didn’t choose her.  It wasn’t the selective instinct that made her attractive to me.  It was because she was the only one.  I never felt anything great when I was with her,” he went on hoarsely.  “I knew very well that ours were ordinary feelings.  She was in the same position that I was.  There was no one else for her, either.  Do you want me to go on?”

She hesitated.

“Don’t be afraid—­I am not quite mad,” he continued, “only I’ll answer for you the part of your question you don’t put into words.  Beatrice was nothing to me but an interpretress of her sex.  I never loved her.  If I had, we might in our misery have done the wildest, the most foolish things.  I will tell you why I know so clearly that I never loved her.  I have known it since you have been kind to me, since I have realised what a wonderful thing a woman can be, what a world she can make for the man who cares, whom she cares for.”

Her fingers gripped his tightly.

“And now,” she said, “I know all that I want to know and all that it is well for us to speak of just now.  Dear friend, will you remember that you are sharing your burden with me, and that I, who am accounted something in the world and who know life pretty thoroughly, believe in you and hope for you.”

They paused for a moment by the side of the steamer rail.  She understood so well his speechlessness.  She drew her hand away from his and held it to his lips.

“Please kiss my fingers,” she begged.  “That is just the seal of our friendship in these days.  See how quickly we seem to plough our way through the water.  Listen to the throbbing of that engine, always towards a new world for you, my friend.  It is to be an undiscovered country.  Be brave, keep on being brave, and remember—­”