“All out here for—­”

They could not catch the name.

“Isn’t that where we’re going?” laughed Kate.

“Of course it is,” Ray responded.

They hastened out and looked about them for the train they had supposed would be in waiting.  It was not yet in, however, but was showing its dark nose a mile or two down the track.

“I must see about our tickets,” said Ray.  “Perhaps we’ll have to buy others.”

Kate had been standing with her back to the ticket station window, but now she turned, and through the ticker-seller’s window envisaged the pale, bitterly sullen face of Lena Vroom.  It looked sunken and curiously alien, as if its possessor felt herself unfriended of all the world.

“Lena!” cried Kate, too startled to use tact or to wait for Lena to give the first sign of recognition.

Lena nodded coolly.

“Oh, is this where you are?” cried Kate.  “We’ve looked everywhere for you.”

“If I’d wanted to be found, I could have been, you know.”  The tone was muffled and pitifully insolent.

“You are living out here?”

“I live a few miles from here.”

“And you like the work?  Is it—­is it well with you, Lena?”

“It will never be well with me, and you know it.  I broke down, that’s all.  I can’t stand anything now that takes thought.  This just suits me—­a little mechanical work like this.  I’m not fit to talk, Kate.  You’ll have to excuse me.  It upsets me.  I’m ordered to keep very quiet.  If I get upset, I’ll not be fit even for this.”

“I’ll go,” said Kate contritely.  “And I’ll tell no one.”  She battled to keep the tears from her eyes.  “Only tell me, need you work at all?  I thought you had enough to get along on, Lena.  You often told me so—­forgive me, but we’ve been close friends, you know, even if we aren’t now.”

“My money’s gone,” said Lena in a dead voice.  “I used up my principal.  It wasn’t much.  I’m in debt, too, and I’ve got to get that paid off.  But I’ve a comfortable place to live, Kate, with a good motherly German woman.  I tell you for your peace of mind, because I know you—­you always think you have to be affectionate and to care about what people are doing.  But you’ll serve me best by leaving me alone.  Understand?”

“Oh, Lena, yes!  I’ll not come near you, but I can’t help thinking about you.  And I beg and pray you to write me if you need me at any time.”

“I can’t talk about anything any more.  It tires me.  There’s your train.”

Ray bought his tickets to nowhere in particular.  The little train came on like a shuttle through the blue loom of the air; they got on, and were shot forward through bright green fields, past expectant groves and flowering orchards, cheered by the elate singing of innumerable birds.

Ray had recognized Lena, but Kate refused to discuss her.

“Life has hurt her,” she said, “and she’s in hiding like a wounded animal.  I couldn’t talk about her.  I—­I love her.  It’s like that with me.  Once I’ve loved a person, I can’t get it out of my system.”