“I—I guess I spent it,” he stammered.
The answer came, and buried itself in his heart, as quick, as cold, as poisonous as a striking snake.
“You did?” she said curtly. “I wonder where. I’m sure you didn’t spend any of it while you were with us.”
He could have strangled her. The veins stood out upon his forehead like cords, his face was brick-red, and for a moment he went blind with the rush of hot, choking blood to his head. He tried to speak, his throat worked convulsively, but no words came: he just stood there goggling at her stupidly with an inflamed face, uttering a few incoherent croaks. Before he could think of anything to say, she had escaped again: Starwick and Ann were coming out of the pension, and she was speaking to them swiftly, telling them to make haste.
No one spoke during the ride to the station. He sat on the back seat beside Ann and the big Alsatian dog; Starwick and Elinor were in front. When they got to the station, the clock still lacked more than five minutes to train-time. He and Starwick bought third-class fares, and went outside where the women were still waiting for them. Starwick and Elinor walked away a few yards and began their quarrel again; Ann said nothing, but looked at him dumbly, miserably, a look that tore at him with pity and wild regret, and that made him weak and hollow with his blind, impossible desire.
They looked at each other with angry, sullen eyes, tormented with the perverse and headstrong pride of youth, unwilling to make concessions or relent, even when each desperately wanted the other to do so.
“Good-bye,” he said, and held out his hand. “Good-bye, Ann.”
“What do you mean—?” she began angrily. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m saying good-bye,” he said doggedly.
“You mean you’re not coming with us?”
For a moment he did not answer and then, nodding towards Elinor, he said bitterly:
“Your lady friend there doesn’t seem to want me very much. She doesn’t seem to think I bear my fair share of the expenses.”
“What did she say to you?” the girl asked.
“Oh, nothing,” he said in a quiet, choking tone of fury. “Nothing in particular. Just one of those friendly little things I’ve come to look for. She just said she didn’t know what I’d done with my money—that I hadn’t spent any of it while I was with you.”
