Page:Dale - A Marriage Below Zero.djvu/277

271 how it is that you really have depth after all. People who never heard anything but your small talk would think you were good for nothing else."

"Do you think that?" I asked, trying not to appear anxious.

"No, Elsie. Indeed I do not." He glanced at at me lovingly. There was a look in his eyes that I had never seen there before. I dropped mine in embarrassment. "I am only thankful—yes, thankful from the bottom of my heart—that you can still be the same little girl as before, after—after what you have endured, since our—our marriage. No, Elsie—" as I made a gesture of disapproval—"there is no reason why we should not discuss the past now, because—because—"

"Because?" I asked breathlessly.

"Because it is losing its interest for me, I am sure," he said in a low tone.

I felt convinced that he spoke the truth. I was confident that no rival supplanted me now, and I saw no harm in congratulating myself already upon the success of my plan. That evening I was in an unusually hilarious mood. I saw