He felt such a sadness come over him that he could not open the door that separated them. He turned silently away, and was about to go down the stairs, when suddenly the door opened and the girl took a step into the lobby. She started, and gave an exclamation of surprise.
"What! is't you, Dick?" she cried. "Why, how was it that I failed to hear you come? How is it that you are going down the stairs?"
His self-possession had fled at the moment of her appearance. He faltered out something.
"You were singing, that was how you did not hear me come; and then--then--well, I thought that--that maybe I should disturb you by entering. Yes, you were singing."
"Oh, Dick!" she said, and there was a note of reproach in her voice.
She turned and walked back into the room. He followed her.
"I knew you would come, Dick," she cried, giving him both her hands. "Oh, I knew that you were not one who would stay away! I looked for you all yesterday, and I waited within the house all this morning. But you have come now, Dick, and I am glad--you know that I am glad to see you. Were we not always friends--the very best friends that could be, Dick?"
"Yes, I have come, dear Betsy," he said. "I have come to wish you--to wish you happiness; indeed, I wish you all happiness--with all my heart--with all my heart and soul, dear Betsy."
He saw her white figure before him through the mist of the tears that sprung to his eyes. And at that moment there was really no desire in his heart but that she should be entirely happy. Every selfish wish--every sense of disappointment--every sense of wounded vanity--every sense of self had dissolved in that mist of tears that came to his eyes, but did not fall.
She was looking into his face, but she did not see that there were tears in his eyes. Her own tears had sprung, and they did not remain in her eyes; they were running down her face.
She could not speak. She could only hold his hands, and all the time she was making a pitiful attempt to smile, only he could not see this.
They stood there silently for a long time. At last he felt her hold upon his hands slacken. Still, there was a suddenness in her act of letting them drop finally. With a sound like that of a little sob, she turned away from him and stood before one of the windows looking out upon the street.