You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
The bell rang, and she stood up as if a spring had jerked<br />
her to her feet.<br />
77.<br />
In the mirror between the dried grasses her face looked long<br />
pale, inanimate. Ah, if he should find her too changed-! If<br />
there were but time to dash upstairs and put on a touch of<br />
red.<br />
The door opened; it shut on him; he was there.<br />
NICK<br />
You wanted to see me?<br />
Yes.<br />
SUSY<br />
And her heart seemed to stop beating.<br />
At first she could not make out what mysterious change had<br />
come over him, and why it was that in looking at him she<br />
seemed to be looking at a stranger; then she perceived that<br />
his voice sounded as it used to sound when he was talking to<br />
other people; and she said to herself, with a sick shiver of<br />
understanding, that she had become another person to him.<br />
There was a deathly pause; then she faltered out, not<br />
knowing what she said.<br />
SUSY (cont’d)<br />
Nick-you’ll sit down?<br />
Thanks.<br />
NICK<br />
But he did not seem to have heard her, for he continued to<br />
stand motionless, half the room between them. And slowly the<br />
uselessness, the hopelessness of his being there overcame<br />
her.<br />
A wall of granite seemed to have built itself up between<br />
them. She felt as if it hid her from him, as if with those<br />
remote new eyes of his he were staring into the wall and not<br />
at her.<br />
SUSY<br />
(to herself)<br />
He’s suffering more than I am,<br />
because he pities me, and is afraid<br />
to tell me that he is going to be<br />
married.<br />
The thought stung her pride, and she lifted her head and met<br />
his eyes with a smile.
Change language