No More Learning

"Torp, is that you? They said you were coming. " Dick looked puzzled and
a little irritated at the silence.

"No; it's only me," was the answer, in a strained little whisper. Maisie
could hardly move her lips.

"H'm! " said Dick, composedly, without moving. "This is a new phenomenon.
Darkness I'm getting used to; but I object to hearing voices. "

Was he mad, then, as well as blind, that he talked to himself? Maisie's
heart beat more wildly, and she breathed in gasps. Dick rose and began
to feel his way across the room, touching each table and chair as he
passed. Once he caught his foot on a rug, and swore, dropping on his
knees to feel what the obstruction might be. Maisie remembered him
walking in the Park as though all the earth belonged to him, tramping
up and down her studio two months ago, and flying up the gangway of the
Channel steamer. The beating of her heart was making her sick, and Dick
was coming nearer, guided by the sound of her breathing.
She put out a
hand mechanically to ward him off or to draw him to herself, she did not
know which. It touched his chest, and he stepped back as though he had
been shot.

"It's Maisie! " said he, with a dry sob. "What are you doing here? "

"I came--I came--to see you, please. "

Dick's lips closed firmly.

"Won't you sit down, then? You see, I've had some bother with my eyes,
and----"

"I know. I know. Why didn't you tell me? "

"I couldn't write. "

"You might have told Mr. Torpenhow. "

"What has he to do with my affairs? "

"He--he brought me from Vitry-sur-Marne.