be in this thing. I do really. And if you want to go I want you to go. You see the work I can do is here. The papers want my stuff, and I can write it here, better here than anywhere, as you know. But that is no reason why you should not go to Auckland if you want to go, and further, Val, if you want to go further. Please believe you are free, once you make up your mind. But you must be happy about it, Val, about staying here, if you stay. I cannot have you unhappy about it.” His voice ended harshly.
She could not look at him and tell him she wished to go. She could not look at him as he stood there and even feel that she wished to go. She threw her arms about him.
“Dane, I won’t consider going away without you. Do you hear, dear?”
“Yes,” he said, much comforted, putting his lips to hers.
There followed days of peace and understanding between them, an interlude, a deliberate shelving of the future, for Dane knew she was not completely happy, and she knew she could not keep up the appearance of being so forever. But because they had so much in common, because they could always be happy in the launch, always aware of the beauty of the garden, they could keep the other side out of sight. But, watching her when he could, he saw that she was growing paler, that often she looked as if she had not slept, that her manner was becoming deliberately cheerful.
He wondered how he could really get at her state of mind, at how much she was keeping from him.
