She gazed levelly at him. 'I still am. It's my work.'
'After all that? After Arenski and his stupidity?'
'Yes, after all that. It showed me how important the job is.'
'If that's how you feel, obviously you must stay with it.'
Ariadne put her hand on his shoulder. 'Let's not be serious tonight. We haven't got long. Must you leave tomorrow?'
'I must. But you do believe I don't want to, don't you?'
'Yes. Yes, darling. Let's go.'
As, five minutes later, they walked along the side of the square with the evening bustle of Athens around them Bond said, 'Come to London with me, Ariadne. Just for a little while. I know they'll give you leave.'
'I want to come with you, just as you don't want to go. But I can't. I knew you'd ask me and I was all set to say yes. Then I saw it somehow wouldn't be right. I think old Arenski was right about one thing, when he said I was bourgeois. I'm still stuck with my middle-class respectability. Does that sound silly?'
'No. But it makes me feel sad.'
'Me too. It all comes from our job. People think it must be wonderful and free and everything. But we're not free, are we?'
'No,' said Bond again. 'We're prisoners. But let's enjoy our captivity when we can.'
The End
