sitive regarding her half-formed complaint in
explanation. But for that reference, they could have gone along
indefinitely with a pretence of indifference, but enough had been said to
tear away the veil and leave them self-conscious and mutually humiliated.
Their little avoidances of touch or tenderness spoke in a language not to
be misunderstood, and their eyes told unconsciously all that they refused
to say with their tongues.

Elizabeth, in her own way, worried herself half sick in her endeavours to
care for him gently and yet give him no cause to think she was making a
demand for a love of which neither approved, but which having once been
put into words was a constant factor in their association. Once when she
was bathing his face, Hugh thought she lingered longer over it than was
necessary and drew himself back on his pillow suddenly, saying:

"Don't Elizabeth. I should have my arms about you in a minute if you did
that, and you are John's wife--and I couldn't look him in the face if I
did a thing of that sort."

Elizabeth turned away without replying, her eyes full of tears. He had
misunderstood her cruelly. The one thing Elizabeth Hunter was trying to do
was not to show her affection for this man who was not her husband, but as
she became worn and tired from duty at the sick-bed it became more and
more evident that she could not accomplish it.

Hugh had the daily fear of her peritonitis coming back upon her; Doctor
Morgan had warned him while John was away. Unable to lift his head from
his pillow without assistance, Hugh saw her growing thin and discouraged,
and knew that it was the enforced condition of caring for him which made
her so; yet when she tried to avoid his sympathetic eyes, he instantly
misunderstood her and was hurt. That she was not really strong enough to
assume the care of him added to his uneasiness, and often when he was on
the point of saying so, she mistook his glance and was so distant that it
died on his lips. And so the days ran into each other with the pair. If
for any reason one advanced, the other retreated, and at last the
condition became unbearable.

Elizabeth gave much and consuming thought to the issue brought about by
the fact that her husband, still living in the house with her, had no idea
that she could be in love with another man, even though her husband no
longer loved her. Any sort of love-making was a violation of her marriage
vows, and for her to put love for another