It did n't matter a pin to her whether `` Lu-Lu '' or `` Mascot '' won . What did matter ! Had Vanity Fair after all been a satisfying exchange for love ? He had loved her once , and they had been happy at first . She had never before said , even in her own heart : `` I am sorry , '' but -- suddenly , she felt his hand on her shoulder , and looked up . Their eyes met . 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 XXXXX you , if ` Mascot ' does I will .
after as at for in into of to whether with