Until then I had never known what love meant, and I didn't feel it;
I couldn't feel it. I couldn't give you a millionth part of what
that woman does. And I knew that having lived in that atmosphere, you
couldn't possibly be content with me. If you had waited, I should have
found some means of telling you so. That's what I meant by saying I
was loyal to you. And I thought I had made it clear to her. It seems I
didn't. It isn't my fault."
"My dear," said I, when she had come to the end of this astonishing
avowal, and stood looking at me somewhat defiantly and twisting her
fingers nervously in front of her, "I don't know what in the world to
say to you."
"You can tell me, at least, that my instinct was right."
"Which one? A woman has so many."
"That you love Lola Brandt."
I lifted my arms in a helpless gesture and let them drop to my sides.
"One is not one's own master in these things."
"Then you do?"
"Yes," said I in a low voice.
Eleanor drew a long breath, turned and sat down again on the sofa.
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