Gradually she came to see that she must choose between the two. Either
she must give up forever the idea of revenging herself on O'Bannon or
she must give up all the peace and wisdom that she had so painfully
learned--she had almost lost it already, and she had not been
twenty-four hours out of prison.
An hour later Eleanor was wakened by the opening of her door. Lydia was
standing at the foot of her bed, grasping the edge of it in her two
white hands. It was Eleanor's first good look at her in the light of
day. She was startled by Lydia's beauty--a kind of beauty she had never
had before. No one could now have likened her to a picture by Cabanel of
the Star of the Harem. Everything sleek and hard and smooth had gone.
She looked more like the picture of some ravaged, pale Spanish saint,
still so young that the inner struggle had molded without lining her
face. She stood staring at Eleanor, her dark hair standing out about her
face, and her pale dressing gown defining the beautiful line of her
shoulders, as she raised them, pressing her hands down on the foot of
the bed.
"Well, my dear, good morning," was Eleanor's greeting, though she was
not unaware that something emotional was in the air.
"Eleanor," began the other, her enormous tragic eyes fixed now, not on
her friend's, but on a spot on the pillow about five inches away, "there
is something I want to say to you." The best agreement was silence, and
Lydia went on, "I want you never to talk to me about that man--your
friend--I mean O'Bannon."
"Talk of him!" exclaimed Eleanor, her first thought being, "Am I always
talking of him?"
"I don't want to hear of him or think of him or speak of him."
This time Eleanor's hesitation was not entirely acquiescent.
"I can understand," she said, "that you might not want to see him, but
to speak of him----I have been thinking, Lydia, that that is one of the
subjects that you and I ought to talk over--to talk out."
"No, no!" returned Lydia quickly, and Eleanor saw with surprise that it
was only by leaning on her hands that she kept them from trembling. "I
can't explain it to you--I don't want to go into it--but I don't want to
remember that he exists. If you would just accept it as a fact, and
tell other people--Benny and Bobby. If you would do that for me,
Eleanor----"
"Of course I'll do it," answered Eleanor. There really was not anything
else to say. The next instant Lydia was gone.