Out of the Past — page 104: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Out of the Past. IOI “Because—but I won’t tell you.” With that Babette whisked out of the room, and in five minutes Robert had finished his toilet and was entering the garden, hearing a whisper from Babette behind the old stair. “M’sieur! Madame’s gone to market.” Rose was lingering among the flowers and did not see him until he was before her. She sustained his look for a brave second, then dropped her eyes in a confusion which paid tribute to their last meeting. “I am intruding, Miss Lloyd.” She shook her head. “Then I may stay?’ Her look assented and he walked on by her side without speaking until she remonstrated: “Silence is hard to bear.” “Between friends, yes. Is it because silence means so much? The heart seems to turn traitor in silence and tell what one dare scarcely think. That is why I prize si- lence. I think you know me best so.” “But I have no right—I dare not.” “Can you help it? Do you not already know me, and are not some of my faults already familiar to you?” “Indeed, I do not know your faults.” “T think you do. There remains much you do not know. But some day I shall be compelled to tell you all I try to keep to myself.” “But, why?” she asked, troubled. COMUNE OOOKS (e(0)