He had seen something in Johnny's face that encouraged him to suggest Los Angeles once more as the ultimate goal of all true aviators.

Johnny had nothing to hold him, now that Mary V had broken with him--as Bland understood the separation.

With Mary V's influence strong upon Johnny's decisions, Bland had bided his time; but there was nothing now to hold him, everything to urge him away from the place.

And Bland pined for the gay cafes on Spring Street.

(They are not so gay nowadays, but that is beside the point, for Bland remembered them as being gay, and for their gayety he pined.) Johnny resorted to his old subterfuge of rolling and smoking a cigarette very deliberately while he made up his mind what to do.