Her first letter in return burned me alive with happiness....
* * * * *
"--you know why she went to the city," Penton teased, "it's because
'Gene Mallows, the California poet, is up there. He and she got on
pretty well when we were on the coast."
"You lie!" I bellowed, beside myself, "Hildreth will be faithful to me
... she has promised."
Penton Baxter looked me up and down, courageously, coolly, for a long
time. Slowly I realised what I had just said.
"That's all I wanted to know, John Gregory! I've got it out of you at
last!"
He turned on his heel.
Changing his mind, he faced me again. This time there was a despairful
agony of kindness in his face.
"Dear boy, I'm sorry for all this thing that has come between us. But
there is yet time for you to keep out of it. Hildreth and I are done
with each other forever ... but you needn't be mixed up in this
affair....
"Johnnie, let her stay in New York, and, no matter how much she wants
you, don't go up there to join her."
"I love her. I adore her. I want to be where she is. Now the whole truth
is out."
"My poor friend!"
"Don't call me your friend--you--"
He tightened his lips....
"If you go up there to join her, remember that I gave you fair warning."
* * * * *
I could endure it no longer, the torment of not seeing her, of not being
with her.
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