“Oh, never mind.” She let his arm go. Her voice was flat among the leaves. “It doesn’t matter. You need not return at all, Dominic.”
“I said I’d do that much,” he protested rather feebly.
“It doesn’t matter,” she repeated. “I never asked for more than a man could give.”
She left him. He stared after her. It was hard to tell in the dimness, but he thought she bore her head high. Almost, he followed, but as she vanished among leaves and shadows he decided it was best not to. He stood for a time under the stars, breathing the night wind. Then faintly across ten kilometers, he heard the crash and saw the flare of guns.