Page:The Painted Veil - Maugham - 1925.djvu/205

 “Are they too big for her?” she asked quickly.

“Miles.”

Kitty laughed and when Waddington translated, the Manchu and the amah laughed also.

When Kitty and Waddington, a little later, were walking up the hill together, she turned to him with a friendly smile.

“You did not tell me that you had a great affection for her.”

“What makes you think I have?”

“I saw it in your eyes. It’s strange, it must be like loving a phantom or a dream. Men are incalculable; I thought you were like everybody else and now I feel that I don’t know the first thing about you.”

As they reached the bungalow he asked her abruptly:

“Why did you want to see her?”

Kitty hesitated for a moment before answering.

“I’m looking for something and I don’t quite know what it is. But I know that it’s very important for me to know it, and if I did it would make all the difference. Perhaps the nuns know it; when I’m with them I feel that they hold a secret which they will not share with me. I don’t know why it came into my head that if I saw this Manchu woman I should have an inkling of what I am looking for. Perhaps she would tell me if she could.”

“What makes you think she knows it?”

Kitty gave him a sidelong glance, but did not answer. Instead she asked him a question.

“Do you know it?”