"No, I don't," said Griff, with sudden energy. "Take your chance while you have it, and thank the Lord for every scrap of happiness you snatch out of the fire."
"Ah, I thought you would be on my side. Will you tell Leo that? Will you help me to show him that waiting is the only real sacrifice? It is only me he thinks of, you know, all through, and that makes it all the harder to bear when I know how blind he is to my needs."
That nascent idea leaped in Griff's brain.
"I can help you to more than that, if once I see my way clear," he said.
She looked doubtfully at him, fearing a return of his first distraught condition. But his mouth was firm, his eyes bright.
"I don't understand you," she murmured.
"I don't understand myself yet. Give me time.—There's Roddick. Shall I let him in?" he broke off, as a strong hand was laid on the outer door.
She flushed a little.
"No, I can't let you do that. It is my privilege."
Griff, sitting quietly by the fire, knew that she was lying in Roddick's arms out there, and for a moment he grudged them their partial happiness. Then he smiled gravely, and tried to understand how he might help these two. If only he could find a deed of real charity to do, he might yet win peace for himself.