She tried to doubt his sincerity, but she could not. Her hand, though it rested on the warm parapet, shook as if she were trembling from the cold.
"You are married," he answered. "Nothing can alter that, for in the eyes of my religion nothing but death can separate you from your husband."
She remembered her teaching in the convent school.
"You came here to tell me this?" she asked.
"I came to tell you this and to ask if, though it will change no fact, you can forgive me for what I said in Paris."
She raised her eyes to answer. As she did so she saw Stainton turning the corner of the promenade.
"Here he is!" she whispered. "You are right: I didn't tell him anything. Wait. There will be another chance for us: I must have one word alone with you before--before----"
"Before," concluded von Klausen, "we say good-bye for the rest of our lives."
The Austrian had not been wrong; Stainton came up smiling.
"Think of you running into us down here!" he said. "I'm glad to see you." He invited the Captain to dinner, and the Captain, after a furtive glance at Muriel, accepted the invitation.
Nor was the dinner unsuccessful. Muriel, resolutely shutting her mind to the thought of so soon losing von Klausen, yet salving her conscience with the brief reflection that, as no positive wrong had been done, so the future was to be clean even of temptation, was almost happy. The Austrian, it is true, was somewhat silent; but Jim held himself altogether at the best.
"The fact is," he explained to von Klausen, "I believe that I've been homesick for a long time without knowing."
"And now," asked the Captain, looking about the pleasant little dining-room, "you have a home, yes?"
"Not here," said Jim. "Not anywhere, in fact; but we soon shall have one. I was not referring to this place. It is all right enough, but we are here only for a few weeks. When I said 'home,' I meant the city that both my wife and I regard as home. I meant New York."
"Is not this a sudden decision?" the guest inquired.
"Not at all. Muriel and I talked it over the other day and quite agreed, didn't we, dear?"
She tried to say "yes," but, though her lips moved, she was mute. She could only nod.
"Mrs. Stainton," said von Klausen, looking narrowly at Muriel, "did not mention it to me when we met to-day."