It had all happened so suddenly--to him even more than to me. Crammed
into a single phrase, it was Helen's return to his life, and I think he
wanted to talk about it quite as much as I did.
It had astonished him, he admitted; for he had never believed it
possible that they could be friends again. And especially after the
trouncing she gave him about the Karelsky business....
"She apologized for that," he told me. "Not that I wanted her to--a
great deal of what she said, from her point of view, was quite true....
But she did apologize, anyway. And then, of course, we had the job of
house-hunting."
I asked him if he had had any idea that she was coming, and he answered:
"Not the slightest. I was reading in the garden when she suddenly came
in by the side gate. She was looking for Taplow--to ask him about the
houses, I suppose."
"But she knew you were staying at the hotel."
"Oh, yes, but it wasn't me she came to see. But for Taplow being out,
and her looking for him, we might never have met."
"Did she suggest that you should show her round the district?"
He said: "I think we both suggested it together. She said she didn't
mind walking, and so naturally...."
After a pause he went on: "I tell you candidly--I didn't think either of
us could do it.... Do you remember the other day we were talking about
her and I told you she was different? Well, she _is_ different, in one
way, but in another way she's just the same--just the same as if--as if
nothing had ever happened.... Do you know what I mean?"