"Look here," he said, in a low, hesitating voice, "I want to tell you,
Janet, that I didn't know till yesterday about George. You'll think me a
fool--but somehow I always thought of him as being safe in India." And
then with sudden passion he asked:--"How can you say that everything is
the same in Old Place with George not here? Why, to me, George was as
much part of Old Place as--as Betty is!"
"We all thought you knew--at least I wasn't sure."
"Thank God _he_ didn't think so poorly of me as that," he muttered, and
then he looked away, his eyes smarting with unshed tears. "Nothing will
ever be the same to me again without George in the world."
As she said nothing, he went on with sudden passion:--"Every other
country in Europe has changed utterly since the War, but England seemed
to me, till last night, exactly the same--only rather bigger and more
bustling than nine years ago." He drew a long breath. "Timmy and I went
into the post-office last evening, and Cobbett asked me to go in, and see
his wife. I thought I remembered her so well--and when I saw her, Janet,
I didn't know her! Then I asked after her boys--and she told me."
"It's strange that a man who went through it all himself should feel like
that," she said slowly.
Pages:
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168