"I guess I had better start right in again at the beginning," he sad.
"Earlier than that," amended Mr. Penway.
* * * * *
So Kirk settled down to a routine of hard work; and, so doing, drove
another blow at the wedge which was separating his life from Ruth's.
There were days now when they did not meet at all, and others when they
saw each other for a few short moments in which neither seemed to have
much to say.
Ruth had made a perfunctory protest against the new departure.
"Really," she said, "it does seem absurd for you to spend all your time
down at that old studio. It isn't as if you had to. But, of course, if
you want to----"
And she had gone on to speak of other subjects. It was plain to Kirk
that his absence scarcely affected her. She was still in the rapids,
and every day carried her farther away from him.
It did not hurt him now. A sort of apathy seemed to have fallen on him.
The old days became more and more remote. Sometimes he doubted whether
anything remained of her former love for him, and sometimes he wondered
if he still loved her. She was so different that it was almost as if
she were a stranger. Once they had had everything in common. Now it
seemed to him that they had nothing--not even Bill.
He did not brood upon it. He gave himself no time for that.
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