"The new tenor is an improvement. Do you not think so?"
"Yes, indeed." No more to touch her hand, to hear her voice, to wait
upon her wishes.
"It was the most brilliant audience of the season."
"Yes, indeed," I murmured. Those were the only words I could
articulate.
The carriage rumbled on.
"Does Patti return in the fall?"
"Yes." Five years of dreaming, and then to awake!
And then the carriage mercifully stopped.
Mrs. Wentworth insisted that I should enter and have some coffee. I
had so few words at my command that I could not invent even a flimsy
excuse. So I went in. The coffee was tasteless. I put in four lumps
of sugar. I stirred and stirred and stirred. Finally, I swallowed the
contents of the cup. It was very hot. When the agony was past I rose
and made my adieu.
Phyllis came to the door with me.
"Forget what I have said," I began, fumbling the door-knob. "I suppose
I was an ass to think that you might love me. They say that it is a
malady. Very well. With a few prescribed remedies I shall recover."
"You are very bitter."
"Can you blame me," clicking the latch back and forth, "when all the
world has suddenly grown dark?"
"There are other eyes than mine," gently.
"Yes; but they will light other paths than those I shall follow."
"Jack, you are too manly to make threats."
"That was not a threat," said I. "Well, I shall go and laugh at myself
for my presumption. To laugh at yourself is to cure. There is no more
wine in the cup, nothing but the lees. I'll have to drink them. A wry
face, and then it will all be over. Yes, I am bitter. To have dreamed
as I have dreamed, and to awake as I have! Ah, well; I must go on
loving you till--"
"Till she comes," supplemented Phyllis.
"You wrong me. It is only in letters that I am versatile. Forgive my
bitterness and forget my folly."
"Oh, Jack, if you knew how sorry I am! I shall forgive the bitterness,
but I will not forget what you term folly. It's something any woman
might be proud of, the love of an honest, dear, good fellow. Good
night." She held her hand toward me.
"Good night," I said, "and God bless you!" I kissed the palm of her
hand, opened the door, and then stumbled down the steps.