I'm no longer
twenty-three. I've lived several lifetimes since this war began, and made
up my mind twice that I was going out. I should feel ninety. Somehow I
don't feel vastly different from that day when I grabbed you like a brute
because I wanted you more than anything on earth....
"I don't pretend that I've thought of you ever since. I've forgotten you
for years at a time. But there have been moments when you have simply
projected yourself into me and been closer than any mortal has ever been.
You were there!
"I felt there was some meaning in those sudden secret wonderful visits of
your soul to mine--I hate to say what sounds like sentimental rotting,
but that exactly expresses it. They belonged to some other plane of
consciousness. It takes war to shift a man over the border if only for a
moment. It kept me--lately--from...never mind that now. When I saw your
eyes above that tiny yellow flame...it wasn't only that your eyes are not
to be matched anywhere...it seemed to me that I saw myself in them, They
came as dose as that! Laugh if you like."
He stood defiantly in front of her.
"God! You look as if you never had had an emotion, never could have one.
But you had once, if only for a moment!"
"I have never had one since--for any one, that is. I hear the concierge.
I'll tell her to set a place for you."
V
She left the room and he stared after her.
Pages:
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410