He stopped. Anstice slipped her hand into his and gave it a little squeeze.
For a moment she could say nothing. Her heart was too full for words.
Then she said softly: "It has been worth the strain and stress of these past weeks to hear you say that."
They sat looking out upon the blue, still lake in the distance. Anstice was thinking of her short and strange married life, and how through Ruffie's illness, she had obtained her heart's desire.
Then she turned again to Justin. She knew that to such a proud reserved man as himself, his confession had cost him something.
"We are both beginners," she said, "but we can help each other. I always hoped that you and I would eventually have the same aims, the same goal! Don't you like these lines? I read them this morning in a little book I have:"
"'The race Thou hast appointed us, with patience we can run;
Thou wilt perform unto the end, the work Thou hast begun.'"
FINIS