Page 586 - of-human-bondage-

forward eagerly to taking the tickets.
‘You won’t mind going second-class, will you? We mustn’t
be extravagant, and it’ll be all the better if we can do our-
selves pretty well when we get there.’
He had talked to her a hundred times of the Quarter.
They would wander through its pleasant old streets, and
they would sit idly in the charming gardens of the Luxem-
bourg. If the weather was fine perhaps, when they had had
enough of Paris, they might go to Fontainebleau. The trees
would be just bursting into leaf. The green of the forest in
spring was more beautiful than anything he knew; it was
like a song, and it was like the happy pain of love. Mildred
listened quietly. He turned to her and tried to look deep
into her eyes.
‘You do want to come, don’t you?’ he said.
‘Of course I do,’ she smiled.
‘You don’t know how I’m looking forward to it. I don’t
know how I shall get through the next days. I’m so afraid
something will happen to prevent it. It maddens me some-
times that I can’t tell you how much I love you. And at last,
at last...’
He broke off. They reached the station, but they had
dawdled on the way, and Philip had barely time to say good-
night. He kissed her quickly and ran towards the wicket as
fast as he could. She stood where he left her. He was strange-
ly grotesque when he ran.