“‘Did you go away? O, of course, you must have. Poor Peter, What a sad time he has had.’ “I was a little bewildered, but I was delighted; in fact, Turner, I was hopelessly infatuated again, I wanted to wring out all the dregs of my detestable villainy and be absolved. All I could begin with was: ‘Were you not very glad to be rid of me?’ “‘Well,’ she said, ‘my great fear at first was that you would find me again and make it up. I didn’t want that then, at least, I thought I didn’t.’ “‘That’s exactly what I felt,’ I exclaimed, ‘but how could I find you?’ “‘Well,’ Phoebe said, ‘you might have found out and followed me. But I promise never to run away again, Peter dear, never.’ “Turner, my reeling intelligence swerved like a shot bird. “‘Do you mean, Phoebe, that you ran away from _me_?’ “‘Yes, didn’t I?’ she answered. “‘But I ran away from _you_,’ I said. ‘I walked out of the hotel on that dreadful afternoon we quarrelled so, and I never went back. I went to America. I was in America nearly four years.’ “‘Do you mean you ran away from me?’ she cried. “‘Yes,’ I said, ‘didn’t I?’ “‘But that is exactly what I did—I mean, I ran away from you. _I_ walked out of the hotel directly you had gone—_I_ never went back, and I’ve been abroad thinking how tremendously I had served you out, and wondering what you thought of it all and where you were.’ “I could only say ‘Good God, Phoebe, I’ve had the most awful four years of remorse and sorrow, all vain, mistaken, useless, thrown away.’ And she said: ’And I’ve had four years—living in a fool’s paradise after all. How dared you run away, it’s disgusting!’ “And, Turner, in a moment she was at me again in her old dreadful way, and the last words I had from her were: ‘Now I _never_ want to see your face again, never, this _is_ the end!’ “And that’s how things are now, Turner. It’s rather sad, isn’t it?” “Sad! Why you chump, when was it you saw her?” “O, a long time ago, it must be nearly three years now.” “Three years! But you’ll see her again!” “Tfoo! No, no, no, Turner. God bless me, no, no, no!” said the little old man. _The Ballet Girl_