"The beginning, but not the end of you. Your eyes are fine, too. They keep
me wondering all the time what colour they really are."
"That's very nice of you."
"And the way you carry yourself!"
"Good gracious!"
"You look as if you had come down from Olympus and had lost the way
back."
"Captain, you're a dear! I've just been wild to have a man say foolish
things to me." She knew that she might play with this man; that he would
never venture across the line. "Men have said foolish things to me, but
always when I was too busy to bother. To-night I haven't anything in this
wide world to do but listen. Go on."
He laughed, perhaps a little ruefully.
"Is there any fire in you, I wonder?"
"Well?"--tantalizing.
"Honestly, I should like to see you in a rage. I've been watching you for
weeks, and have found myself irritated by that perpetual calm of yours.
That day of the riot you stood on the curb as unconcerned as though you
had been witnessing a movie."
"It is possible that it is the result of seeing so much pain and misery. I
have been a machine too long. I want to be thrust into the middle of some
fairy story before I die. I have never been in love, in a violent rage. I
haven't known anything but work and an abiding discontent. Red hair----"
"But it really isn't red. It's like the copper beech in the sunshine, full
of glowing embers."
"Are you a poet?"
"On my word, I don't know what I am."
"There is fire enough in you. The way you tossed about our boys and the
Japs!"
"In the blood. My father and I used to dress for dinner, but we always
carried the stone axe under our coats. We were both to blame, but only a
miracle will ever bring us together. I'm sorry I ran into him. It brings
the old days crowding back."
"I'm sorry."
"Oh, I'll survive! Somewhere there's a niche for me, and sooner or later
I'll find it."
"He stopped me in the lobby after you left. Wanted to know what name you
were using. I told him rather bluntly--and he went on. Something in his
voice--made me want to strike him!"
Dennison balanced a fork on a finger.
"Funny old world, isn't it?"