.

.

.
After all, I'm only one amongst your many friends." He reclaimed her hands and drew them against his breast.

"Good-bye, beloved," he said.
His voice sounded rough and uneven.
Instinctively Nan clung to him.

He released himself very gently--very gently but inexorably.
"So it's farewell, Sun-kissed." Mechanically she shook hands and her lips murmured some vague response.
She heard the door of the flat close behind him, followed almost immediately by the clang of the iron grille as the lift-boy dragged it across.