"Mrs. Tenney." She withdrew from him slightly. If Tira made his heart race, she wouldn't hear it. He should not be spied upon. "Don't you know," said she clearly, "I've got to see this thing through?"
"See it through?" he repeated. "You can't. She won't let you. She won't let me."
"Of course she won't let you. If the man's mad with jealousy, he won't stand another man's supporting his wife."
"I should very much doubt if she let you. She's got a loyalty—well, it's the sort you read about when a brute breaks a woman and she says she fell and hurt herself. It's been the surprise of my life that she said a word to me."
"That's easy," said Nan. "You're so awfully sorry for everybody. They feel it in you. She thought you were an archangel."
"An archangel!" groaned Raven. "Good Lord! Well, what do you propose doing?"
"Go over there to-morrow. Ask her to come here and help me get the house in order."
"Then what? Talk to her? You'll frighten her."
But he knew Nan would frighten no one, not the least of the maimed and spent.
"No, but I thought maybe if things kept happening, I could take her back with me to town, to work."