"I'm sure it wouldn't," he replied promptly. "After all, this is just an
hour's playtime that we have snatched out of life. Let's enjoy every
minute of it--we may never meet again."
Diana felt her heart contract in a most unexpected fashion.
"Oh, I hope we shall!" she exclaimed, with ingenuous warmth.
"It is not likely," he returned quietly. He struck a match and held it
while she lit her cigarette, and for an instant their fingers touched.
His teeth came down hard on his under-lip. "No, we mustn't meet again,"
he repeated in a low voice.
"Oh, well, you never know," insisted Diana, with cheerful optimism.
"People run up against each other in the most extraordinary fashion. And
I expect we shall, too."
"I don't think so," he said. "If I thought that we should--" He broke
off abruptly, frowning.
"Why, I don't believe you _want_ to meet me again!" exclaimed Diana, with
a note in her voice like that of a hurt child.
"Oh, for that!" He shrugged his shoulders. "If we could have what we
wanted in this world! Though, I mustn't complain--I have had this hour.
And I wanted it!" he added, with a sudden intensity.
"So much that you propose to make it last you for the remainder of your
life?"--smiling.
"It will have to," he answered grimly.
After dinner they made their way back from the restaurant car to their
compartment, and noticing that she looked rather white and tired, he
suggested that she should tuck herself up on the seat and go to sleep.
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