To Teresa the world about her-the stifling night, the breathless air, the crowd of ordinary people-had taken on the colour and glow of the wine, a mysterious radiance. They looked at one another, and drank a silent toast. "Then I'm glad you went away, if that's true." And I can't get on at all without you-not at all. I get on damn badly without you, that's the truth." Oh, I see that you could get on without me, and I shall never give you the chance again!"
"You've a habit of me, or a habit of getting on without me. All you have is a habit." She smiled at him. Had you forgotten that I'm pretty? Could you tell the colour of my eyes? You've got no memory, Basil, and therefore no soul.
"Confess that you're surprised to find how nice I really am. "You were forgetting me," murmured Teresa, as she took up her glass. Don't you like that? Would you rather have me feel that I know you like a book, like an old hat? Drink some of that white wine." It's as though you were a person that I must begin to know all over again. "Yes, you were forgetting me-if I'd stayed a few months longer, you'd have forgotten how I look! It's true-you said so yourself." "That's it! That's the very way you look at me-as though I were a stranger! You'd forgotten me." You look at me as though I'd been gone a year." But you might have got used to my being away. "Am I? Did I want you to go? Did I, Teresa?" Are you put out with me for coming so soon?" You haven't told me what made you decide so suddenly to come back," he said abruptly. It's too bad to pull you back into this heat-we must get out of town to-morrow. "You look younger-you look awfully strong and well-it has done you a lot of good. Basil studied her face with keen attention. Teresa wore the white dress and hat which she had put into her steamer-trunk with an idea of this occasion. Low thunder- clouds hung over the city it seemed to gasp for breath.
#True bond part 3 full#
The restaurant and the street were full of foreign bourgeois people, less noisy because of the heat. They dined together at one of their old haunts, on a balcony overlooking a broad street. Just to have him there, in her arms, was like bread to a gnawing hunger, like water to a biting thirst. They held one another, silent, for long, long moments, and to Teresa all bitterness, all chance of misunderstanding, seemed to ebb away out of consciousness. "You haven't said you're glad to see us back."īasil bent to look into her eyes, gathered her up in her loose white dress, and her arms went round him in a clasp that seemed as if it could never loosen. And you … you're looking very much stronger …" "Like a fighting-cock! You've taken good care of him. "What a nice rig! Blue's your colour-mine too, oddly. Are you too tired to go out somewhere? I'll find a cool place to eat." "How hot you look, poor dear," she said softly, looking at his forehead. Her loose dark hair swept across her forehead and cheek, and her lowered eyelids showed a narrow line of blue. "Turn on the light-I want to see you," said Teresa lazily.īasil turned on the light and took off his coat, showing a pale-blue silk shirt which fastened neatly about his strong throat with a blue tie and a gold pin then he sat down again on the edge of the bed. "What a splendid fellow he is what a beauty!" he said, with a little shake in his voice. At last Basil came back, shutting the door, and sat down beside Teresa. He went in, and Teresa heard his voice-pleasant-toned, fond, and joking-and heard Ronald laugh sleepily. The child was in the next room, not yet asleep. Teresa was lying on her bed, her head still whirling from the effect of the voyage. It was nearly seven o'clock, and Ronald had been put to bed, when Basil came. He put Teresa, Ronald, and the nurse into a carriage and sent them to a hotel, staying himself to see the luggage through the Custom-house. "Good for you-what a memory you've got! …" "Papa," said Ronald, with his superior smile. "How you've grown, old man! Forgotten me? Do you know who I am?" Smiling, he caught Ronald up and kissed him, laughing with pleasure. But it's beastly hot! Must get you and the boy straight out of town -" When they met, with a quick clasp of both hands, in the midst of the crowd, Teresa's glance devoured his face, noting its slight pallor, slight sallowness about the eyes. It was a smart Panama, and his light-grey coat looked new. In the crowd she caught sight of him, a head above his neighbours, his eyes eagerly lifted, searching the crowded deck. A haze of summer heat hung over the bay and the city a hot breath came from the land. BASIL was there on the pier, when, crippled by a mid-Atlantic storm, the ship crept in, a day late.
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