at that time. I was more than content to let so
pleasant an acquiescence take possession of me; for the first time in my
life, you understand, I was neither lonely nor unhappy. The only thing
that jarred was _his_ presence. The evenings when _he_ was there were
all out of tune. All out of tune."

The man with the white hair paused to pour himself out another glass of
wine; and his voice, losing the dreamy note of reminiscence, sharpened
to a more rapid utterance--a crescendo for which I had been waiting.

"I haven't an attractive character," he resumed; "I don't want you to
think that I have, and so accord me more sympathy than I deserve.
Please be quite impartial. Please realise that, according to ordinary
standards, I played the part of a cad. Think: there was a man,
ostensibly my friend, who had given me the run of his house; I accept
his hospitality and his friendship, and then take advantage of his
absences to make love to his wife. Not a pretty story, although a
commonplace one. Please be quite harsh towards me, and let me be quite
harsh towards myself. I did none of the things I ought to have done
under the circumstances; I neither went quietly abroad without making
a fuss, nor did I attempt to conceal my feelings from her. If you knew
her," he said, with an anguish of longing that lit up the whole story
for me better than any words of his could have done, "if you knew her,
you would realise at once that she wasn't a woman from whom one could
conceal one's feelings. There was that calm gentleness about her which
made all hypocrisy a shame and a sham. Also, deceiving her would have
been like deceiving a child; hurting her was like hurting a child.
(That was what enraged me when _he_ hurt her, and I had to stand by, and
listen.) She was so simple, and direct, and defenceless. So, you see, as
soon as I realised what had happened, I told her. It wasn't a dramatic
avowal, and it had no very immediately dramatic consequences. In fact,
for a while its only effect was to bring me across the room from my
habitual arm-chair, to sit on the floor near her with my head against
her knee; and so we would remain for hours, not moving, scarcely
speaking, for there was such harmony and such content between us that we
seemed to know everything that passed in each other's minds.

"Of course, that couldn't last. We were young and human, you see; and
standing in the background, overshadowing the perfection of our solitary
hours, wa