She bit her lip. Her beauty was a kind I could not understand.
"You must see Charlotte," she said, "and you must do as she says."
With that she was gone. There was a car waiting; the last I saw
was its winking tail-light dimming into the darkness.
XVI
CHARLOTTE
Left alone, I began thinking of Charlotte. I loved her; of that I
was certain. I could not compare her with the Nervina. She was
like myself, human. I had known her since boyhood. The other was
out of the ether; my love for her was something different; she was
of dreams and moonbeams; there was a film about her beauty,
illusion; she was of spirit.
I wrote a note to the detective and left it upon my desk. After
that I packed a suitcase and hurried to the station. If I was
going I would do it at once, I could not trust myself too far.
This visit had been like a breath of air; for the moment I was
away from the isolation. The loneliness and the weariness! How I
dreaded it! I was only free from it for a few moments. On the
train it came back upon me and in a manner that was startling.
I had purchased my ticket. When the conductor came through he
passed me. He gathered tickets all about me; but he did not notice
me. At first I paid no attention; but when he had gone through the
car several times I held up my ticket. He did not stop. It was not
until I had touched him that he gave me a bit of attention.
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