Page:Herbert Jenkins - The Rain Girl.djvu/251

 For some time they continued to smoke contentedly.

"It's strange you should have mentioned that," said Beresford, at length. "I've often wondered if"

"What's in you is in the rest of us, only most of us are not so honest about it. Wasn't it Oscar Wilde who said that we men are all in the gutter; but some of us are looking at the stars. You're looking at the stars, Beresford, that's all."

"I suppose you're right," said Beresford a little doubtfully.

"With you it's the spirit of romance," continued Tallis quietly. "If you had lived a few centuries earlier, you would have gone about the country on a horse with a ten-foot pole asking for trouble. You would have been a disciple of Peter the Hermit, and every other uncomfortable person who preached the high-falutin'. The only trouble is that you won't face facts."

"What facts?" demanded Beresford, almost aggressively.

"Well, for instance, that you're head-over-heels in love with this girl and you're afraid to tell her so. You expect her to make the running."

"Don't be an ass."

Tallis relapsed into silence again. Several times Beresford looked across at him; but he appeared to have forgotten everything but his pipe, at which he pulled contentedly.

"Do you seriously expect?" began Beresford,