Then someone spoke. Someone who was eager to greet and hold any chance visitor. "Come in, Mary-Clare will be back soon. She never stays long."
At that voice Northrup slammed the door behind him and strode across the space separating him from Larry Rivers!
Larry sat huddled in the chintz rocker, his crutch on the floor, his thin, idle hands clasped in his lap. He wore his uniform, poor fellow! It gave him a sense of dignity. His eyes, accustomed to the dimmer light, took in the situation first; he smiled nervously and waited.
Northrup in a moment grasped the essentials.
"So you've been over there, too?" was what he said. The angry gleam in his eyes softened. At least he and Rivers could speak the common language of comrades-in-arms.
"Yes, I've been there," Larry answered. "When I came back, I had nowhere else to go. Northrup, you wonder why I am here. Good God! How I've wanted to tell you."
"Well, I'm here, too, Rivers. Life has been stronger than either of us. We've both drifted back."
Larry turned away his head. It was then that Northrup caught the full significance of what life had done to Rivers!
"Northrup, let me talk to you. Let me plunge in--before any one comes. They won't let me talk. It's like being in prison. It's hell. I've thought of you, you're the only one who can really help. And I dared not even ask for you!"
Larry was now nervously twisting his fingers, and his face grew ashen.
Northrup had a feeling as if he were back among those scenes where time was always short, when things that must be said hurriedly gripped a listener. The conventions were swept aside.
"They--they couldn't understand, anyway," Larry broke in. "They've got a fixed idea of me; they wouldn't know what it was that changed me, but you will.
"Everyone's kind. I haven't anything to complain of, but good God! Northrup, I'm dying, and what's to be done--must be done quickly. You--see how it is?"
"Yes, Rivers, I see." There could be no mercy in deceiving this desperate man.
"I knew you would. Day after day, lately, I've been saying that over in my mind. I remembered the night in the shack on the Point. I knew you would understand!"
"Perhaps your longing brought me, Rivers. Things like that happen, you know."