His tone sounded cold and formal.
She crossed to the door with him, and was about to accompany him downstairs, when he turned to her and said:
"Don't trouble to come farther, thank you. Goodbye."
How unnatural he was! His manner cut her, and she stood silent, embarrassed with the fervor of her own feelings.
He glanced at her quickly.
"What is the matter?" he asked, almost sternly.
"You seem so changed, Dr. Cadman. Have I done wrong?"
"You—done—wrong?" he said, in the same hard tone. "No! But when a man wrestles with the hardest problem of his life,—One which tears at his very heart-strings in its solution, he must be stern or completely lose himself!"
He held out his hand to her and she took it.
A momentary thrill from his warm pressure,—then a great loneliness engulfed her heart, and she knew it was because he had left her presence.