Page:Adams - A Child of the Age.djvu/66

54 he would do himself some harm, and, as I tried to soothe him, I felt in some strange way that the pulse of life beat but faintly here, and, feeling it, grew sad. And so at last Rayne came back, and we talked of other things.

The next morning she went with me down to the station to see me off. When I had got my ticket and seen that the box was all right in the luggage van, we walked up and down the gravel platform talking a little,—of her father and of their going abroad and when we might meet again. She seemed to have no idea that he was very ill, and mine, of the faint-pulsing life, having passed away, there was no certainty in me to tell her of what might after all have been no more than fancy.

She would write to me once every month, she said: that was better than promising to write often and not writing; for it is so difficult to know what to tell a person if you write often, and it is much nicer to have the whole month and write to them when you feel inclined to; didn't I think so? Then I reminded her of her promise to learn hard at Latin and of mine to learn hard at French, so that we might both know the same languages and compare our thoughts upon them. 'And,' I said, 'I shall set upon Italian soon, and see what I can make of it, and write and tell you.'

And a little after that the train came up, and we went stepping down it, till we saw an empty carriage. And then I got into it, and put my coat on the seat, and got down again by her; but we said little, standing together, and I now and then looking at her, and knowing a tremble in me and the lump, and would have held her and kissed her on the lips and said 'Rayne' and never let her go. But the last carriage-door banged to, and the porter was by mine, and there was a hurry to get in and in the hurry somehow I touched her hand, and she rose on her toes with her cheek for me to kiss, and I kissed it, and then was I up in the moving train and not able to see her for the tears, till we were past the end of the station, when I saw her standing and waving her hand with a smile on her dear sweet face. ''Oh, Rayne, Rayne! Oh, Rayne, Rayne!'' …'