made up your mind that you

"They want to shut up," he said. "My advice is that you should tellOliver and Perrott to-morrow that you've made up your mind that you don'tmean to marry either of them. I'm certain you don't. If you changeyour mind you can always tell them so. They're both sensible men;they'll understand. And then all this bother will be over."He got up. 　　But Evelyn did not move. She sat looking up at him with herbright eager eyes, in the depths of which he thought he detectedsome disappointment, or dissatisfaction. 　　"Good-night," he said. 　　"There are heaps of things I want to say to you still," she said. 　　"And I'm going to, some time. I suppose you must go to bed now?""Yes," said Hewet. "I'm half asleep." He left her still sittingby herself in the empty hall. 　　"Why is it that they _won't_ be honest?" he muttered to himself as hewent upstairs. Why was it that relations between different peoplewere so unsatisfactory, so fragmentary, so hazardous, and wordsso dangerous that the instinct to sympathise with another human beingwas an instinct to be examined carefully and probably crushed? 　　What had Evelyn really wished to say to him? What was she feeling leftalone in the empty hall? The mystery of life and the unreality evenof one's own sensations overcame him as he walked down the corridorwhich led to his room. It was dimly lighted, but sufficientlyfor him to see a figure in a bright dressing-gown pass swiftlyin front of him, the figure of a woman crossing from one room to another. Chapter 15     Whether too slight or too vague the ties that bind people casuallymeeting in a hotel at midnight, they possess one advantage at leastover the bonds which unite the elderly, who have lived togetheronce and so must live for ever. Slight they may be, but vividand genuine, merely because the power to break them is withinthe grasp of each, and there is no reason for continuance excepta true desire that continue they shall. When two people have beenmarried for years they seem to become unconscious of each other'sbodily presence so that they move as if alone, speak aloud thingswhich they do not expect to be answered, and in general seemto experience all the comfort of solitude without its loneliness.