they were reaching their destination at last. they were borne in chairs, day after day, along a narrow causeway between interminable rice-fields. they set out at dawn and travelled till the heat of the day forced them to take shelter in a wayside inn and then went on again till they reached the town where they had arranged to spend the night. kitty's chair headed the procession and walter followed her; then in a straggling line came the coolies that bore their bedding, stores and equipment. kitty passed through the country with unseeing eyes. all through the long hours, the silence broken only by an occasional remark from one of the bearers or a snatch of uncouth song, she turned over in her tortured mind the details of that heart-rending scene in charlie's office. recalling what he had said to her and what she had said to him, she was dismayed to see what an arid and business-like turn their conversation had taken. she had not said what she wanted to say and she had not spoken in the tone she intended. had she been able to make him see her boundless love, the passion in her heart, and her helplessness, he could never have been so inhuman as to leave her to her fate. she had been taken unawares. she could hardly believe her ears when he told her, more clearly than with words, that he cared nothing for her. that was why she had not even cried very much, she had been so dazed. she had wept since, wept miserably.
at night in the inns, sharing the principal guest chamber with her husband and conscious that walter, lying on his camp bed, a few feet away from her, lay awake, she dug her teeth in the pillow so that no sound might escape her. but in the daytime, protected by the curtains of her chair, she allowed herself to give way. her pain was so great that she could have screamed at the top of her voice; she had never known that one could suffer so much; and she asked herself desperately what she had done to deserve it. she could not make out why charlie did not love her: it was her fault, she supposed, but she had done everything she knew to make him fond of her. they had always got on so well, they laughed all the time they were together, they were not only lovers but good friends. she could not understand; she was broken. she told herself that she hated and despised him; but she had no idea how she was going to live if she was never to see him again. if walter was taking her to mei-tan-fu as a punishment he was making a fool of himself, for what did she care now what became of her? she had nothing to live for any more. it was rather hard to be finished with life at twenty-seven.
