"No. Please don't try to. It is just what I cannot stand. Talk to me as you would in the old days. Try to feel that my individuality is as strong and unimpaired as ever. It is only my outer shell that is the crock."
"It is strange that such trouble should come upon you both in the same year," said Randolph musingly.
"Yes," said Monica, with a little dry smile. "I tell Sidney we are the two builders who built their houses side by side, one on the rock, the other on the sand. The storms have come and beaten upon us; hers still stands firm, but mine has gone under. And I tell you honestly that I would give anything sometimes to have Sidney's faith. Something to which I could cling, some light beyond the present. I'm sitting amongst the ruins of my plans and hopes, and though I've given up the struggle at last of trying to erect my building again, I'm not what you call resigned or happy. It's a cruel fate to overtake me, is it not?"
"I should start building again," said Randolph, looking at her meditatively. "It may have to be a different style of building, and upon a different foundation, but you can still be a builder of sorts."
Monica made no reply. Then she made a move towards the house, and quiet talk was for the time postponed. Sidney appeared when the evening meal was ready. She wore a simple white gown. She might be thin, and her face somewhat transparent, but the flush on her cheeks and light in her eyes made her look very radiant.
Randolph could hardly keep his eyes off her, but he was led to talk of his experiences, and he had a good deal of interesting news to give, so that Sidney lost her momentary fit of self-consciousness and was an eager listener. Young George Lockhart had got promotion besides himself, and had already written to Gavine to ask her to come out and share his life.
"He's as steady as a rock now," said Randolph, "and has a good future in front of him. I hope she is the kind of girl to be a help to him."
"She will be a tremendous help to him if she goes," said Sidney warmly.
And then, with a little hesitation, Randolph said:
"I came down here with a Major Hughes and his wife. He used to live in this neighbourhood, did he not? They're visiting the Woods. We got into conversation. I knew her before she married."