"Ah, yes—your wife." Some new thought struck her. She turned back to him, with a line of perplexity between her arched brows. "Aren't you leaving him very soon?"
He hesitated, and then answered slowly:
"Dr. Martin is with him. I have to go to Heerut. It's not only my work. I've heard that Ayeshi's somewhere in these parts, and I've got to find him."
"What do you want with Ayeshi?" she asked, no less deliberately.
"I've got to bring him back. I only heard yesterday of the suspicion which sent him into hiding, and, I am afraid, to the devil. The suspicion is unwarranted. He's got to come back and be cleared."
"Poor Ayeshi!" she said under her breath.
He nodded, his eyes darkened with pain.
"He has suffered horribly and unjustly."
"Needlessly!" she corrected vehemently. "Uselessly! Who minds sacrifice or suffering or injustice so long as the end—the purpose—is clear and attained? It's the pitiable uselessness——" She broke off, tapping the ground with an exasperated foot. But he had heard the tears in her voice.
"Isn't that the horror of all suffering?" he asked, wearily—"its apparent uselessness? We can only hope it leads somewhere."