"
"Lucy--this may be the last time I'll see you--ever--ever in my life."
At that she looked at him quickly, across her shoulder, but she smiled
as brightly as before, and with the same cordial inconsequence: "Oh, I
can hardly think that!" she said. "And of course I'd be awfully sorry
to think it. You're not moving away, are you, to live?"
"No."
"And even if you were, of course you'd be coming back to visit your
relatives every now and then."
"I don't know when I'm coming back. Mother and I are starting to-
morrow night for a trip around the world."
At this she did look thoughtful. "Your mother is going with you?"
"Good heavens!" he groaned. "Lucy, doesn't it make any difference to
you that I am going?"
At this her cordial smile instantly appeared again. "Yes, of course,"
she said. "I'm sure I'll miss you ever so much. Are you to be gone
long?"
He stared at her wanly. "I told you indefinitely," he said. "We've
made no plans--at all--for coming back."
"That does sound like a long trip!" she exclaimed admiringly.
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