With a sudden jealous movement he folded her more closely in his arms.
"Let me have a few moments of this," he muttered, a little breathlessly.
"A few moments of thinking you have come back to me."
"But I have come back to you!" Her eyes grew wide and startled with a sudden, desperate apprehension. "You won't send me away again—not now?"
His face twisted with pain.
"Beloved, I must! God knows how hard it will be—but there is no other way."
"No other way?" She broke from his arms, searching his face with her frightened eyes. "What do you mean? . . . What do you mean? Don't you—care—any longer?"
He smiled, as a man may who is asked whether the sun will rise to-morrow.
"Not that, beloved. Never that. I've always cared, and I shall go on caring through this world and into the next—even though, after to-night, we may never be together again."
"Never—together again?" She clung to him. "Oh, why do you say such things? I can't—I can't live without you now. Max, I'm sorry—sorry! I've been punished enough—don't punish me any more by sending me away from you."
"Punish you! Heart's dearest, there has never been any thought of punishment in my mind. Heaven knows, I've reproached myself bitterly enough for all the misery I've brought on you."