"There's nothing you can do." She checked an impulse to say: "Except to leave me alone."
"I wonder if you will be angry with me if I ask you something."
She gave an unhappy little laugh. "I don't think so. I feel too tired for temper."
"Oh, I say!" His tone was contrite. "I've bothered you all the time you've been packing."
"It's not that. It always upsets me to go journeys. What did you want to ask?"
"Turn round and face me."
Alayne turned round. "Well?"
"Would you have come here to nurse me if Renny had not been here?"
The flush on her cheeks spread to her forehead. But she was not angry. The shock of what he had asked was too deep for that.
"Certainly, I should."
A look, antagonistic but shrewdly understanding, passed between them.
He said: "I believe you, though I'd rather not. I'd like to think that it was your love for him that dragged you here, against your reason. I hate to think that you did such a tremendous thing for me alone. Yet, in spite of what you say, you can't quite make me believe that you would have come back here if you had never loved Renny. The place itself must have had a fascination for you. I believe places keep some essence of the emotions that have been experienced in them, don't you? Do you think the Hut will ever be the same again after this summer? Alayne, I honestly believe that Jalna drew you back, whether you realize it or not."
She muttered: "How can you be sure that Renny and I care for each other? You talk as though we had had an affair!"
"When we came to Jalna after we were married, I saw that Renny had made a disturbing impression on you. Before many months had passed, I saw that you were trying desperately to beat down your love for him, and that he was trying just as hard to control his feeling for you."
