She could not answer.
The guard blew his whistle. There was an end of the minute at last.
'Stand back,' she whispered: her voice was stifled with tears.
'Back?'—Alfred peered up into her face, and a sudden pallor spread upon his own—'with your dear eyes full of tears, where I never yet saw tears before? Back?—God forgive me for thinking of it, I'll come with you yet!'
He made as though to dive headlong through the window; but, looking him full in the eyes through her tears, his girl-wife laid a strong hand on each of his shoulders and forced him back. He staggered as the platform came under his feet. The train was already moving. He stood and gazed.
Gladys was waving to him, and smiling through her tears. So she continued until she could see him no more. Then she fell back upon the cushions, and, for a time, consciousness left her.
It was their first parting.
