"’Why don’t you stay here?’ I demanded ’Why talk of going home? I have a notion that you belong here. Why don’t you love, be happy?...’ "’No, no!’ he interrupted hurriedly ’You don’t know what you’re talking about’ He stopped short, gazing at me as if he were searching my mind. ’Love won’t come to me again’ said he. "’Nonsense!’ I answered ’That’s morbid, Bert. What possible reason...’ "’Good God!’ he burst out ’Haven’t I the right to know?’ He wandered to the railing, leaned against a post there, and turned his face away. ’Long ago’ said he slowly ’I took every ray and hope of love out of my heart, and took them in my hands—so—and crushed them, and killed them, and threw them down—as if I’d taken my heart itself and squeezed the last drop of blood out of it like a sponge. I tell you, Nichols, the thing’s dead’ "’But you haven’t told me’ I reminded him. "He took a longer walk this time, round the corner of the verandah; when he came back, he sat down beside me like a man tired with carrying a load. ’Do you remember a little girl I used to talk about?’ he asked ’I think you met her once in New York, the year before I left. Her name was Helen Rand’ "’A slender girl with dark hair and brown eyes?’ "’Yes.... Well, she went away. She’s got the same eyes now, wide childish....’ "’Now!’ I shouted ’You don’t mean—she isn’t...’ "’No, no’ said he ’I haven’t seen her for these eight months. She’s down in Australia—was then—Melbourne’ "’What have you been doing now?...’ I began, but he cut me off sharply. "’Nothing’ said he ’She isn’t mine—never has been’ He leaned toward me ’But I’ve been near her night and day—as near as I could get. Ready to help, you know—anything. God, I had to be in the same place. But perhaps you won’t understand’ He hesitated, then went on doggedly ’I found out too late that I loved her. I found it out just one day too late. I’ve been paying for that one day. And all I’ve done, all I could do, wouldn’t begin to balance the account. I wonder whether you see?’ "’How could you keep it going so long?’ I asked. "He laughed harshly. ’I knew you wouldn’t understand. Just because you think that love means faith and chastity, quietness, placid days and years, you have no eye for the love that lives in the fires of hell. But it’s the same love. Bad as she is, I can’t help loving her’