They chattered over irrelevant subjects during tea. He held forth on the love of ornament—the cottage parlour moved him thereto—and its connection with aesthetics. She was cold and quiet. As they walked home, she asked:
“And we shall not see each other?”
“No—or rarely,” he answered.
“Nor write?” she asked, almost sarcastically.
“As you will,” he answered. “We’re not strangers—never should be, whatever happened. I will write to you now and again. You please yourself.”
“I see!” she answered cuttingly.
But he was at that stage at which nothing else hurts. He had made a great cleavage in his life. He had had a great shock when she had told him their love had been always a conflict. Nothing more mattered. If it never had been much, there was no need to make a fuss that it was ended.
He left her at the lane-end. As she went home, solitary, in her new frock, having her people to face at the other end, he stood still with shame and pain in the highroad, thinking of the suffering he caused her.
In a reaction towards restoring his self-esteem, he went into the Willow Tree for a drink. There were four girls who had been out for the day, drinking a modest glass of port. They had some chocolates on the table. Paul sat near with his whisky. He noticed the girls whispering and nudging. Presently one, a bonny dark hussy, leaned to him and said:
“Have a chocolate?”
The others laughed loudly at her impudence.
“All right,” said Paul. “Give me a hard one—nut. I don’t like creams.”
“Here you are, then,” said the girl; “here’s an almond for you.”
She held the sweet between her fingers. He opened his mouth. She popped it in, and blushed.
“You are nice!” he said.
“Well,” she answered, “we thought you looked overcast, and they dared me offer you a chocolate.”
“I don’t mind if I have another—another sort,” he said.
And presently they were all laughing together.
It was nine o’clock when he got home, falling dark. He entered the house in silence. His mother, who had been waiting, rose anxiously.
“I told her,” he said.
