THE RETURN OF THE SOLDIER
standing up there among the poplars, with his eyes frowning and not a smile on him. And he was angry . . . oh, so angry . . . I couldn’t get near him all the afternoon. And then it struck me he wasn’t trusting me as he would a girl of his own class, and I told him so, and he went on being cruel. Oh, don’t make me remember the things we said to each other! It doesn’t help. And then he went away . . . still angry . . . the boy took him over in the punt . . . the only time ever that I hadn’t. And that was all. I never saw him again. I know now he had to go away suddenly . . . to Mexico . . . that’s what he’d come down to tell me . . . and he didn’t tell me because of our quarrel, and then father died suddenly . . . found him dead in his bed one morning, we did . . . and I had to sell the lease of the inn. I made the new woman promise she’d forward any letters. But she didn’t. I didn’t know . . . not till last year when Mr. Grey and I went down to see the place, and there were new people there . . . and after lunch Mr. Taylor took me into the office and said, “I’ve got something here that may interest you.” And he opened the roller desk that dad used to have, and out of the drawer he took twelve letters addressed to me in Chris’s handwriting. I didn’t know what to say. I thought I should faint . . . I never have . . . but that’s what it felt like. Anyway, I cried, and he was very kind and kept William . . . that’s
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