Aren't you rather neglecting your guests?"
"Never mind my guests," she answered. "I have been wanting to talk to
you alone for days. Why have you done this? Why are you here? What is
it that you are seeking for in life?"
"A little amusement only," he declared. "I cannot find it except
amongst my own kind."
"You have not the appearance of a pleasure seeker," she answered.
"Mine is a passive search," he said. "I have some years to live--and
of solitude, well, I have tasted at once the joys and the depths."
"You are not in love with me any longer, are you?" she asked.
"I am not bold enough to deny it," he answered, "but do not be afraid
that I shall embarrass you with a declaration. To tell you the truth,
I have not much feeling left of any sort."
"You mean to keep your own counsel, then?" she asked.
"It is so little to keep," he murmured, "and I have parted with so
much!"
She measured the emotion of his tone, the curious yet perfectly
natural indifference of his manner, and she shivered a little. Always
she feared what she could not understand.
"I had hoped," she said sadly, "that we might at least have been
friends."
He shook his head.
"I have no fancy," he declared, "for the cemeteries of affection. You
must remember that I am beginning life anew. I do not know myself yet,
or you! Let us drift into the knowledge of one another, and perhaps--"
"Well! Perhaps?"
"There may be no question of friendship!"
Lady Ruth went back to her guests, and with the effortless ease of
long training, she became once more the gracious and tactful hostess.
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