She made a compromise with herself. Kirk should have friends, but they
must be new ones. In a little while, when this crazy desire to keep
herself and him alone together in a world of their own should have left
her, they would begin to build up a circle. But these men whose
vocabulary included the words "Do you remember?" must be eliminated one
and all.
Kirk, blissfully unconscious that his future was being arranged for him
and the steering-wheel of his life quietly taken out of his hands,
passed his days in a state of almost painful happiness. It never
crossed his mind that he had ceased to be master of his fate and
captain of his soul. The reins were handled so gently that he did not
feel them. It seemed to him that he was travelling of his own free will
along a pleasant path selected by himself.
He saw his friends go from him without a regret. Perhaps at the bottom
of his heart he had always had a suspicion of contempt for them. He had
taken them on their surface value, as amusing fellows who were good
company of an evening. There was not one of them whom he had ever known
as real friends know each other--not one, except Hank Jardine; and
Hank had yet to be subjected to the acid test of the new conditions.
There were moments when the thought of Hank threw a shadow across his
happiness. He could let these others go, but Hank was different.
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