He lifted up his head. His lips moved, He put out a hand to her a little way, but with a moan he drew it back. Then he looked into her eyes, and said slowly—
“It is the truth. I do not love you with the heart of a lover.”
“That is enough. Leave me! My heart is broken!”
She fell into a chair, and covered her face with her hands.
He looked at her for a moment; then, with a cry of agony, he went out of the room—out of the house.
In his heart, as he wandered on to the high road, there was not much of the exaltation of a man who knows that he has overcome an unworthy impulse.
CHAPTER XXXII.
When he did not return toward night Charles Bunbury and his wife became alarmed. He had only taken his hat and cloak from the hall as he went out; he had left no line to tell them that he did not mean to return.