And then it came to me that this was what I had been
wanting to do, all my life--something to help him, that nobody else could
do. Don't take it from me."
"I know," whispered Joan. "I've been there, too. I knew you were doing
it, though I didn't quite know how--till the other day. I wouldn't
think. I wanted to pretend that I didn't. I know all you can say. I've
been listening to it. It was right of you to want to give it all up to
me for his sake. But it would be wrong of me to take it. I don't quite
see why. I can't explain it. But I mustn't. So you see it would be no
good."
"But I'm so useless," pleaded the woman.
"I said that," answered Joan. "I wanted to do it and I talked and
talked, so hard. I said everything I could think of. But that was the
only answer: I mustn't do it."
They remained for a while with their arms round one another. It struck
Joan as curious, even at the time, that all feeling of superiority had
gone out of her. They might have been two puzzled children that had met
one another on a path that neither knew.
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