Page:Temple Bailey--The Gay cockade.djvu/297

 sang them. But because I couldn't be an everyday wife"

"What kind of wife did you want to be?"

"I wanted to travel with him alone—I planned a honeymoon in the desert, and we had it—and I planned after that to sail the seas to the land of Nowhere—and we sailed—and then—I wanted to go to the high plains—and ride and camp—and into the forests to hunt and fish—but he wouldn't. He said that we had wandered enough. He wanted to build a house—and have me warm—his slippers"

"And so you quarreled?"

"We quarreled—great hot heavy quarrels—and we said things—horrid things—that we can't forgive"

She was sobbing on my shoulder and I said softly: "Things that you can't forgive?"

"Yes. And that he can't. That's why I ran away from him."

I waited.

"I couldn't stand it to see him going around with his face stern and set and not like my lover's. And he didn't speak to me except to be polite. And he asked people to go with us—everywhere. And we were never alone"

"What had you said to make him—like that?" 291