He stooped and said almost in a whisper : `` Will you come back to me ? '' `` I do n't know , '' she whispered breathlessly , as one half-fascinated . `` We were both to blame -- but I the most . I was too hard on you -- I ought to have made more allowance . We are wiser now both of us . Come back to me -- my wife . '' His tone was cold and his face expressionless . It was on her lips to cry out `` No , '' passionately . But the slender , scholarly hand on her shoulder was trembling with the intensity of his repressed emotion . He did care , then . A wild caprice flashed into her brain . She sprang up . `` See , '' she cried , `` they 're off now . This heat will probably decide the race . If ` Lu-Lu ' wins I will not go back to you , if ` Mascot ' does I will . That is my decision . '' He turned paler , but bowed in assent . He knew by bitter experience how unchangeable her whims were , how obstinately she clung to even the most absurd . She leaned forward breathlessly . The crowd hung silently on the track .
`` XXXXX '' and `` Mascot '' were neck and neck , getting in splendid work .
Lu-Lu Mascot caprice crowd decision shoulder tone whims whisper wife