第35章

There’salittlemoreI’vegottosay，please。

Asifitweren’tbadenoughtodowhatyou’redoing_atall_，butyoumustneedstakeitatsuchatimeasthiswhen——whenherhusband_isn’t_

doingjustwhatheoughttodo，andweallknowit——it’ssounfairtotakehernow，andtryto——

towin——Andyouaren’tevenfairwithhim，’

sheprotestedtremulously。Youpretendtobehisfriend。Yougowithhimeverywhere。It’sjustasifyouwere_helping_to——topullhimdown。

You’reonewiththewholebunch。’(ThebloodsuddenlyrecededfromArkwright’sface，leavingitverywhite；butifAlicesawit，shepaidnoheed。)Everybodysaysyouare。Thentocomeherelikethis，onthesly，whenyouknowhecan’tbehere，I——Oh，can’tyouseewhatyou’redoing？’

Therewasamoment’spause，thenArkwrightspoke。Adeeppainlookedfromhiseyes。Hewasstillverypale，andhismouthhadsettledintosadlines。

Ithink，perhaps，itmaybejustaswellifI

tellyouwhatI_am_doing——or，rather，tryingtodo，’hesaidquietly。

Thenhetoldher。

Andsoyousee，’headded，whenhehadfinishedthetale，Ihaven’treallyaccomplishedmuch，afterall，anditseemsthelittleIhaveaccomplishedhasonlyledtomybeingmisjudgedbyyou，mybestfriend。’

Alicegaveasobbingcry。Herfacewasscarlet。

Horror，shame，andreliefstruggledformasteryinhercountenance。

Oh，butIdidn’tknow，Ididn’tknow，’shemoaned，twistingherhandsnervously。Andnow，whenyou’vebeensobrave，sotrue——formetoaccuseyouof——Oh，canyou_ever_forgiveme？Butyousee，knowingthatyou_did_careforher，itdidlook——’Shechokedintosilence，andturnedawayherhead。

Heglancedathertenderly，mournfully。

Yes，’hesaid，afteraminute，inalowvoice。

Icanseehowitdidlook；andsoI’mgoingtotellyounowsomethingIhadmeantnevertotellyou。Therereallycouldn’thavebeenanythinginthat，yousee，forIfoundoutlongagothatitwasgone——whateverlovetherehadbeenfor——

Billy。’

Butyour——tigerskin!’

Oh，yes，Ithoughtitwasalive，’smiledArkwright，sadly，whenIaskedyoutohelpmefightit。Butoneday，verysuddenly，Idiscoveredthatitwasnothingbutadeadskinofdreamsandmemories。ButImadeanotherdiscovery，too。Ifoundthatjustbeyondlayanotherone，andthatwasverymuchalive。’

Anotherone？’Aliceturnedtohiminwonder。Butyouneveraskedmetohelpyoufight——thatone!’

Heshookhishead。

No；Icouldn’t，yousee。Youcouldn’thavehelpedme。You’donlyhavehinderedme。’

Hinderedyou？’

Yes。Yousee，itwasmylovefor——you，thatIwasfighting——then。’

Alicegavealowcryandflushedvividly；butArkwrighthurriedon，hiseyesturnedaway。

Oh，Iunderstand。Iknow。I’mnotaskingfor——anything。IheardsometimeagoofyourengagementtoCalderwell。I’vetriedmanytimestosaytheproper，expectedprettyspeeches，but——Icouldn’t。Iwillnow，though。Ido。

Youhaveallmytenderestbestwishesforyourhappiness——dear。IflongagoIhadn’tbeensuchablindfoolasnottoknowmyownheart——’

But——butthere’ssomemistake，’interposedAlice，palpitatingly，withhanginghead。

I——I’mnotengagedtoMr。Calderwell。’

Arkwrightturnedandsentakeenglanceintoherface。

You’re——not？’

No。’

ButIheardthatCalderwell——’Hestoppedhelplessly。

YouheardthatMr。Calderwellwasengaged，verylikely。But——itsohappensheisn’tengaged——

tome，’murmuredAlice，faintly。

But，longagoyousaid——’Arkwrightpaused，hiseyesstillkeenlysearchingherface。

NevermindwhatIsaid——longago，’laughedAlice，tryingunsuccessfullytomeethisgaze。

Onesayslotsofthings，attimes，youknow。’

IntoArkwright’seyescamea

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