"This--what I have told you--is a very close bond between us, isn"t it?"
she said.
"Very close, Strelsa."
"Was I much to blame?"
"No."
"How much?"
"You should have left him long before."
"Why, he was my husband! I had made a contract; I had to keep it and make the best of it."
"Is that your idea?"
"That was all I could see to do about it."
"Don"t you believe in divorce?"
"Yes; but I thought he"d be killed; I thought he was a little insane. If he"d been well mentally and merely cruel and brutal I would have left him. But one can"t abandon a helpless person."
"Every word you utter," he said, "forges a new link in my love for you."
"You don"t mean--love?"
"We mean the same I think--differing only in degree."
"Thank you. That is nice of you."
He nodded, smiling to himself; then, graver:
"Is your little fortune quite gone, Strelsa?"
"All gone--all of it."
"I see.... And something has got to be done."
"You know it has.... And I"m old before my time--tired, worn out. I can"t work--I have no heart, no courage. My heart and strength were burnt out; I haven"t the will to struggle; I have no capacity to endure.
What am I to do?"
"Not what you plan to do."
"Why not? As long as I need help--and the best is offered----"
"Wouldn"t you take less--and me?"
"Oh, Rix! I couldn"t _use you_!"
She turned and looked up at him, blushed, and dis-engaged herself from his arm.
"I--I--you are my _friend_. I couldn"t do that. I have nothing to give anybody--not even you." She smiled, tremulously--"And I suspect that as far as your fortune is concerned, you can offer me little more.... But it"s sweet of you. You _are_ generous, having so little and wishing to share it with me----"
"Could you wait for me, Strelsa?"
"Wait? You mean until you become wealthy? Why, you dear boy, how can I?--even if it were a certainty."
"Can"t you hold on for a couple of years?"
"Please tell me how? Why, I can"t even pay my attorneys until I sell my house."
He bit his lip and frowned at the sunlit water.
"Besides," she said, "I haven"t anything to offer you that I haven"t already given you----"
"I ask no more."
"Oh, but you _do_!"
"No, I want only what you want, Strelsa--only what you have to offer of your own accord."
They fell silent, leaning forward on their knees, eyes absent, remote.
"I don"t see how it can be done; do you?" she said.
"If you could wait----"
"But Rix; I"ve told him that I would marry him."
"Does that count?"
"Yes--I don"t know. I don"t know how dishonest I might be.... I don"t know what is going to happen. I"m so poor, Rix--you don"t realise--and I"m tired and sad--old before my time--perplexed, burnt out----"
She rested her head on one slender curved hand and closed her eyes.
After a while she opened them with a weary smile.
"I"ll try to think--after you are gone.... What time does your train leave?"
He glanced at his watch and rose; and she sprang up, too:
"_Have_ I kept you too long?"
"No; I can make it. We"ll have to walk rather fast----"
"I"d rather you left me here."
"Would you? Then--good-bye----"