Page:Strange Interlude (1928).djvu/57

Rh

[Nodding his head several times—stupidly]

Yes.

[In same tones]

It’s too bad. I brought Doctor Darrell. I thought there might be a chance.

[She pauses and looks about the room]

[Thinking confusedly]

His books his chair  he always sat there  there’s his table  little Nina was never allowed to touch anything  she used to sit on his lap  cuddle against him  dreaming into the dark beyond the windows  warm in his arms before the fireplace  dreams like sparks soaring up to die in the cold dark  warm in his love, safe-drifting into sleep “Daddy’s girl, aren’t you?”

[She looks around and then up and down]

His home my home  he was my father  he’s dead

[She shakes her head]

Yes, I hear you, little Nina, but I don’t understand one word of it.

[She smiles with a cynical self-contempt]

I’m sorry, Father! you see you’ve been dead for me a long time when Gordon died, all men died  what did you feel for me then? nothing and now I feel nothing  it’s too bad

[Thinking woundedly]

I hoped she would throw herself in my arms weeping  hide her face on my shoulder  “Oh, Charlie, you’re all I’ve got left in the world ”