“Oh, what have I done?”

“You fainted.”

“I⁠—I am very sorry.”

“How are you now?”

“Perfectly well⁠—absolutely well.” And she began to nod and smile.

“Then let us come home. There’s no point in our stopping.”

He held out his hand to pull her up. She pretended not to see it. The cries from the fountain⁠—they had never ceased⁠—rang emptily. The whole world seemed pale and void of its original meaning.

“How very kind you have been! I might have hurt myself falling. But now I am well. I can go alone, thank you.”

His hand was still extended.