I wish I
could hear you say you believed that."
"But you talk of 'friends,'" she said, in a tone not at
all responsive--"what is meant by 'friends'? We've chanced
to meet twice--and once we barely exchanged civilities,
and this time we've been hotel acquaintances--hardly more,
is it?--and you and your young people have been very
polite to me--and I in a silly moment have talked to you
more about my affairs than I should--I suppose it was
because you mentioned my father. But 'friends' is rather
a big word for that, isn't it?"
Thorpe pouted for a dubious moment. "I can think
of a bigger word still," he said, daringly. "It's been
on the tip of my tongue more than once."
She quickened her pace. The air had grown perceptibly colder.
The distant mountains, visible ever and again through
the bare branches, were of a dark and cheerless blue,
and sharply defined against the sky. It was not yet
the sunset hour, and there were no mists, but the
light of day seemed to be going out of the heavens.
He hurried on beside her in depressed silence.
Their companions were hidden from view in a convolution
of the winding road, but they were so near that their
voices could be heard as they talked. Frequently the
sound of laughter came backward from them.
"They're jolly enough down there," he commented at last, moodily.
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