nbrook he had had a last word with Miss Brent; not a
word of confidence--for the same sense of reserve kept both from any
explicit renewal of their moment's intimacy--but one of those exchanges
of commonplace phrase that circumstances may be left to charge with
special meaning. Justine had merely asked if he were really leaving and,
on his assenting, had exclaimed quickly: "But you will come back soon?"

"I shall certainly come back," he answered; and after a pause he added:
"I shall find you here? You will remain at Lynbrook?"

On her part also there was a shade of hesitation; then she said with a
smile: "Yes, I shall stay."

His look brightened. "And you'll write me if anything--if Bessy should
not be well?"

"I will write you," she promised; and a few weeks after his return to
Hanaford he had, in fact, received a short note from her. Its ostensible
purpose was to reassure him as to Bessy's health, which had certainly
grown stronger since Dr. Wyant had persuaded her, at the close of the
last house-party, to accord herself a period of quiet; but (the writer
added) now that Mr. Langhope and Mrs. Ansell had also left, the quiet
was perhaps too complete, and Bessy's nerves were beginning to suffer
from the reaction.

Amherst had no difficulty in interpreting this brief communication. "I
have succeeded in dispersing the people who are always keeping you and
your wife apart; now is your chance: come and take it." That was what
Miss Brent's letter meant; and his answer was a telegram to Bessy,
announcing his return to Long Island.

The step was not an easy one; but decisive action, however hard, was
always easier to Amherst than the ensuing interval of readjustment. To
come to Lynbrook had required a strong effort of will; but the effort of
remaining there called into play less disciplined faculties.

Amherst had always been used to doing things; now he had to resign
himself to enduring a state of things. The material facilities of the
life about him, the way in which the machinery of the great empty house
ran on like some complex apparatus working in the void, increased the
exasperation of his nerves. Dr. Wyant's suggestion--which Amherst
suspected Justine of having prompted--that Mrs. Amherst should cancel
her autumn engagements, and give herself up to a quiet outdoor life with
her husband, seemed to present the very opportunity these two distracted
spirits needed to find and repossess each other. But, though Amhers