th her
resolve, the cab for which she waited stopped unnoticed at the door. It
was not until Durrance's servant had actually rung the bell that her
attention was again attracted to the street.

"He has come!" she said with a start.

Durrance, it was true, was not particularly acute; he had never been
inquisitive; he took his friends as he found them; he put them under no
microscope. It would have been easy at any time, Ethne reflected, to
quiet his suspicions, should he have ever come to entertain any. But
_now_ it would be easier than ever. There was no reason for
apprehension. Thus she argued, but in spite of the argument she rather
nerved herself to an encounter than went forward to welcome her
betrothed.

Mrs. Adair slipped out of the room, so that Ethne was alone when
Durrance entered at the door. She did not move immediately; she retained
her attitude and position, expecting that the change in him would for
the first moment shock her. But she was surprised; for the particular
changes which she had expected were noticeable only through their
absence. His face was worn, no doubt, his hair had gone grey, but there
was no air of helplessness or uncertainty, and it was that which for his
own sake she most dreaded. He walked forward into the room as though his
eyes saw; his memory seemed to tell him exactly where each piece of the
furniture stood. The most that he did was once or twice to put out a
hand where he expected a chair.

Ethne drew silently back into the window rather at a loss with what
words to greet him, and immediately he smiled and came straight towards
her.

"Ethne," he said.

"It isn't true, then," she exclaimed. "You have recovered." The words
were forced from her by the readiness of his movement.

"It is quite true, and I have not recovered," he answered. "But you
moved at the window and so I knew that you were there."

"How did you know? I made no noise."

"No, but the window's open. The noise in the street became suddenly
louder, so I knew that some one in front of the window had moved aside.
I guessed that it was you."

Their words were thus not perhaps the most customary greeting between a
couple meeting on the first occasion after they have become engaged, but
they served to hinder embarrassment. Ethne shrank from any perfunctory
expression of regret, knowing that there was no need for it, and
Durrance had no wish to hear it. For there were many things which these
two understood eac