第46章

“ThinkILLofyou？“criedOldGrannis，“thinkILLofyou？Why，youdon’tknow——youhavenoidea——alltheseyears——livingsoclosetoyou，I——I——“hepausedsuddenly。

Itseemedtohimasifthebeatingofhisheartwaschokinghim。

“Ithoughtyouwerebindingyourbooksto-night，“saidMissBaker，suddenly，“andyoulookedtired。IthoughtyoulookedtiredwhenIlastsawyou，andacupoftea，youknow，it——that——thatdoesyousomuchgoodwhenyou’retired。Butyouweren’tbindingbooks。“

“No，no，“returnedOldGrannis，drawingupachairandsittingdown。“No，I——thefactis，I’vesoldmyapparatus；

afirmofbooksellershasboughttherightsofit。“

“Andaren’tyougoingtobindbooksanymore？“exclaimedthelittledressmaker，ashadeofdisappointmentinhermanner。

“Ithoughtyoualwaysdidaboutfouro’clock。IusedtohearyouwhenIwasmakingtea。“

IthardlyseemedpossibletoMissBakerthatshewasactuallytalkingtoOldGrannis，thatthetwowerereallychattingtogether，facetoface，andwithoutthedreadfulembarrassmentthatusedtooverwhelmthembothwhentheymetonthestairs。Shehadoftendreamedofthis，buthadalwaysputitofftosomefar-distantday。Itwastocomegradually，littlebylittle，insteadof，asnow，abruptlyandwithnopreparation。Thatsheshouldpermitherselftheindiscretionofactuallyintrudingherselfintohisroomhadneversomuchasoccurredtoher。Yethereshewas，IN

HISROOM，andtheyweretalkingtogether，andlittlebylittleherembarrassmentwaswearingaway。

“Yes，yes，Ialwaysheardyouwhenyouweremakingtea，“

returnedtheoldEnglishman；“Iheardtheteathings。ThenIusedtodrawmychairandmywork-tableclosetothewallonmyside，andsitthereandworkwhileyoudrankyourteajustontheotherside；andIusedtofeelveryneartoyouthen。Iusedtopassthewholeeveningthatway。“

“And，yes——yes——Ididtoo，“sheanswered。“Iusedtomaketeajustatthattimeandsitthereforawholehour。“

“Anddidn’tyousitclosetothepartitiononyourside？

SometimesIwassureofit。IcouldevenfancythatIcouldhearyourdressbrushingagainstthewall-paperclosebesideme。Didn’tyousitclosetothepartition？“

“I——Idon’tknowwhereIsat。“

OldGrannisshylyputouthishandandtookhersasitlayuponherlap。

“Didn’tyousitclosetothepartitiononyourside？“heinsisted。

“No——Idon’tknow——perhaps——sometimes。Oh，yes，“sheexclaimed，withalittlegasp，“Oh，yes，Ioftendid。“

ThenOldGrannisputhisarmabouther，andkissedherfadedcheek，thatflushedtopinkupontheinstant。

Afterthattheyspokebutlittle。Thedaylapsedslowlyintotwilight，andthetwooldpeoplesatthereinthegrayevening，quietly，quietly，theirhandsineachother’shands，“keepingcompany，“butnowwithnothingtoseparatethem。Ithadcomeatlast。Afteralltheseyearstheyweretogether；theyunderstoodeachother。TheystoodatlengthinalittleElysiumoftheirowncreating。Theywalkedhandinhandinadeliciousgardenwherei