Eustace never stirred a step to meet me.

I ran to him, and threw my arms round his neck and kissed him.

The embrace was not returned; the kiss was not returned.

He passively submitted--nothing more.
"Eustace!" I said, "I never loved you more dearly than I love you at this moment! I never felt for you as I feel for you now!" He released himself deliberately from my arms.

He signed to me with the mechanical courtesy of a stranger to take a chair.
"Thank you, Valeria," he answered, in cold, measured tones.