I
knew--Oh, yes, I knew!--that he would know instantly he was mine if we
met. But...well, I too have to live with myself. It might be that he was
committed to you, that if he married you, you would both be happy enough.
"When he did come nothing would have tempted me to accept him if I had
still believed--"
"Did he tell you? Tell you how close he came? Tell you that I was in love
with him?"
"My dear Gora, I fancy that if he were capable of that you would not be
capable of loving him. I certainly should not." There was a slight movement
in her throat as if she were swallowing the rest of the truth whole. She
had adhered to it where she could but Gora's face must be saved. "Your name
was not mentioned. I asked him no questions about his past. I am not the
heroine of a novel, old style. He told me that he loved me, that he had
never loved any other woman, never asked any other woman to marry him.
That was enough for me. I had no place in my mind for you or any one else.
Perhaps you don't know--how could you--that years ago, when he was in
California, he asked me to marry him."
"Calf love! If you had not been here now--"
"He would have gone to California as soon as he could get away. He had made
up his mind to that before he came to Paris."
"What!"
Gora's arms dropped to her sides and she stared at the floor. Then
she laughed, "O God, what irony! I talked of you more or Jess as was
natural.
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