“You’re not the beauty you were,” he said irrelevantly; “but you’re a lot more fetching.”

The oddly qualified praise made her laugh with mingled pleasure and annoyance.

“I suppose I must be dreadfully changed—­”

“You’re all right!—­But I’ve got to go back home,” he broke off abruptly.  “I’ve put it off too long.”

She paled and looked away, helpless in her sudden disappointment.  “I knew you’d say that....  And I shall just be left here....”  She sat down on the sofa near which they had been standing, and two tears formed on her lashes and fell.

Moffatt sat down beside her, and both were silent.  She had never seen him at a loss before.  She made no attempt to draw nearer, or to use any of the arts of cajolery; but presently she said, without rising:  “I saw you look at your watch when I came in.  I suppose somebody else is waiting for you.”

“It don’t matter.”

“Some other woman?”

“It don’t matter.”

“I’ve wondered so often—­but of course I’ve got no right to ask.”  She stood up slowly, understanding that he meant to let her go.

“Just tell me one thing—­did you never miss me?”

“Oh, damnably!” he brought out with sudden bitterness.

She came nearer, sinking her voice to a low whisper.  “It’s the only time I ever really cared—­all through!”

He had risen too, and they stood intensely gazing at each other.  Moffatt’s face was fixed and grave, as she had seen it in hours she now found herself rapidly reliving.

“I believe you did,” he said.

“Oh, Elmer—­if I’d known—­if I’d only known!”

He made no answer, and she turned away, touching with an unconscious hand the edge of the lapis bowl among his papers.

“Elmer, if you’re going away it can’t do any harm to tell me—­is there any one else?”

He gave a laugh that seemed to shake him free.  “In that kind of way?  Lord, no!  Too busy!”

She came close again and laid a hand on his shoulder.  “Then why not—­why shouldn’t we—?” She leaned her head back so that her gaze slanted up through her wet lashes.  “I can do as I please—­my husband does.  They think so differently about marriage over here:  it’s just a business contract.  As long as a woman doesn’t make a show of herself no one cares.”  She put her other hand up, so that she held him facing her.  “I’ve always felt, all through everything, that I belonged to you.”

Moffatt left her hands on his shoulders, but did not lift his own to clasp them.  For a moment she thought she had mistaken him, and a leaden sense of shame descended on her.  Then he asked:  “You say your husband goes with other women?”

Lili Estradina’s taunt flashed through her and she seized on it.  “People have told me so—­his own relations have.  I’ve never stooped to spy on him....”

“And the women in your set—­I suppose it’s taken for granted they all do the same?”