Will you promise that ?" "To promise that--would be lying," he said slowly, and his hand unclenched and lay listlessly on his knee.

"If there is a reason--some good reason why I should leave you--then I will go." "Then--you demand a reason ?" "To demand a reason would be--" He hesitated, and she added: "Unchivalrous." "Yes--more than that," he replied softly.

He bowed his head, and for a moment she saw the tinge of gray in his blond hair, the droop of his clean, strong shoulders, the SOMETHING of hopelessness in his gesture.
A new light flashed into her own face.

She raised a hand, as if to reach out to him, and dropped it as he looked up.
"Will you let me help you ?" he asked.
She was not looking at him, but beyond him.

In her face he saw again the strange light of hope that had illumined it at the pool.
"If I could believe," she whispered, still looking beyond him.