iness on the prospect
of their reunion in the autumn. If the war was to stand in the way of
her return to India, it might then be years before she should see her
husband again--which would be unthinkable!

In the presence of Kitty's romance she was learning to comprehend the
extent of her own loss,--her deplorable lack of appreciation in the
past;--and she recognised that she had only herself to blame. Ray had
loved her greatly; how greatly, she was only now beginning to
understand, and her very soul hungered for that love with a nostalgia
that was making her ill. If, by her folly, she had sacrificed that
devotion--if he had ceased to love her altogether, and had met another
more responsive and appreciative than she had been, she would not want
to live; for even her beloved babe would no longer suffice to fill her
life.

Memory recalled for her torment, certain words of his at parting. He had
been wounded at her determination to leave him so soon after their
marriage, and being ignorant of the true cause of her nervous
break-down, he had expressed little sympathy, and had accused her of
failure of affection for him. "Remember, a big breach between husband
and wife may be mended, but never again is there restored what has been
lost!" he had said. Also: "You are straining the cord that binds us
together; the strands will presently be so weak that they will snap
altogether. Then all the splicing afterwards will never restore it to
its original strength. It will be a patched-up thing; its perfection
gone!"

Had she done this terrible thing by her own shortsightedness and folly?

Little did he guess at the time of their parting that she was suffering
tortures of self-contempt and nervous dread of his scorn, were he to
know all that was on her mind!

And now, after this lapse of months, she was longing to make full
confession and atonement. With her in his arms and their love fully
restored, he would surely forgive her her foolishness and the silence
which he had mistaken for lack of affection.

But, the war!

She would not be able to go to him now, and he would continue to believe
that she had failed him! Her affectionate letters had not convinced him,
for actions speak louder than words. Gradually an icy atmosphere of
indifference had breathed forth at her from his letters, and she had
been filled with secret uneasiness and fears. He was indeed learning to
do without her.

Possibly the cord that had bound them to