"Yes, Carley, you look well--better than I ever saw you, but--but--"
"But I don't look happy," interrupted Carley. "I am happy to get
home--to see you all... But--my--my heart is broken!"
A little shocked silence ensued, then Carley found herself being led
across the lower level and up the wide stairway. As she mounted to the
vast-domed cathedral-like chamber of the station a strange sensation
pierced her with a pang. Not the old thrill of leaving New York or
returning! Nor was it the welcome sight of the hurrying, well-dressed
throng of travelers and commuters, nor the stately beauty of the
station. Carley shut her eyes, and then she knew. The dim light of vast
space above, the looming gray walls, shadowy with tracery of figures,
the lofty dome like the blue sky, brought back to her the walls of Oak
Creek Canyon and the great caverns under the ramparts. As suddenly as
she had shut her eyes Carley opened them to face her friends.
"Let me get it over--quickly," she burst out, with hot blood surging
to her face. "I--I hated the West. It was so raw--so violent--so big.
I think I hate it more--now.... But it changed me--made me over
physically--and did something to my soul--God knows what.... And it has
saved Glenn. Oh! he is wonderful! You would never know him.... For long
I had not the courage to tell him I came to bring him back East. I kept
putting it off. And I rode, I climbed, I camped, I lived outdoors. At
first it nearly killed me. Then it grew bearable, and easier, until I
forgot. I wouldn't be honest if I didn't admit now that somehow I had a
wonderful time, in spite of all.... Glenn's business is raising hogs. He
has a hog ranch. Doesn't it sound sordid? But things are not always
what they sound--or seem. Glenn is absorbed in his work. I hated it--I
expected to ridicule it. But I ended by infinitely respecting him. I
learned through his hog-raising the real nobility of work.... Well, at
last I found courage to ask him when he was coming back to New York. He
said 'never!'... I realized then my blindness, my selfishness. I could
not be his wife and live there. I could not. I was too small, too
miserable, too comfort-loving--too spoiled. And all the time he knew
this--knew I'd never be big enough to marry him.... That broke my heart.
I left him free--and here I am.... I beg you--don't ask me any more--and
never to mention it to me--so I can forget."