"Then you must stick to the things that matter," she said.

"That is--nobody's business." He tried to look severe, but very curiously failed.

He picked up a plate of sandwiches to mask a momentary confusion, and offered it to her.
Again, with simplicity, she accepted, and there fell a silence between them while she ate, her eyes again upon the fire.

Her face, in repose, was the saddest thing he had ever seen.

More than ever did she make him think of a child that had been hurt.
She finished her sandwich and sat for a while lost in thought.