Page:Neith Boyce--The bond.djvu/239

Rh were seated at the table, Basil, worried by Teresa's deadly pallor, made her drink a little brandy. To his surmise that the walk was too much for her, she assented absently, and then said:

"But it is time I made some effort. I see that myself, now. Life does not stop for one. Life goes on. And one must live, too, while it lasts."

She spoke without emotion; in her neutral eyes, that rested everywhere except on Basil's face, there was a look of suffering. "You need a change. I've felt it for some time, only you didn't seem strong enough"

"If I don't get away now, I shall die," she said, in the same quiet way. "I shall start next week. I want to be away, alone, all summer."

"Alone? But you're not fit, Teresa" "Oh, you know I'm to be with Nina and her family—that's arranged. We shall go to some quiet place, where I can be at peace, and get strong."

"Alone, then, means just that you don't want me."

Her assent was silence. She looked away, at the faces of the other people in the room, and her face was quiet as marble.

Basil's head drooped. Neither of them had made more than a pretence of tasting their food. He began to make lines on the tablecloth with a