"You should not. You should not. How could you? I—I—I—"
She pauses helplessly. It seems to Everet the helplessness of innocence. He leans near her an instant; then, with an effort at self-control, drops her hand.
She leans her head against the side of the carriage. She says under her breath, "Oh, my God!"
He hears it, and thinks he has distressed her, shocked her, and begins an apology, his voice emotion-choked. He feels that he has been a brute to intrude on her in this way.
She does not answer. He can feel that her body is quivering as though with cold. He attempts to draw the rug more closely about her, but she winces and says with a wail:
"Don't, don't, don't!"
He desists, and sits watching her helplessly. She does not speak again until they have reached home. When he touches her hand for a moment as he helps her from the brougham, it is hot and feverish.
She says, as he turns to follow her up the steps:
"Don't come in to-night." She hesitates a moment, and then adds with a rush,
"I must be with my husband. To-morrow—I will see you to-morrow."