“May I consult you? I’m so miserable—I’m wretched. Nigel has gone away and left me!”
“Gone away.”
“Yes.”
“But he’ll come back? Surely, he means to come back?”
“I hope so. But he never left me before. Never since we have been married! And I am miserable. What shall I do—what can I do to make him fond of me?”
This pathetic question brought tears to Bertha’s eyes. She was truly sorry for the poor little creature.
“Is he angry with you then?”
“He’s not exactly angry, now. He has been very kind. He has behaved beautifully. But he said he must go away for a time, and when he came back he would not refer to—to the subject of our quarrel again.”
“Well, that’s all right then. There is no cause for being unhappy. It’s nothing his going away for a week or two.”
“He says six weeks. Six long, dreadful weeks!”