"I thought Pamela would have written you," she chose her words slowly. The opportunity to tell him was plain, but she could not do it, not yet! "Quite a number of things have happened."
"But you've been well, I see that,—and Mrs. Astry?"
She snatched at the digression.
"Very well indeed; they're going to stay here all summer and go to Lenox in October, I believe. I suppose Johnstone is staying on because Congress does this year; you know he takes an interest in politics. I hope it won't be too hot for Eva."
"You ought to feel the Philippines; one has to, to appreciate them! I was very ill out there. I believe old Dr. Lewis thought I was going to die, but I didn't; I only lay there in a sort of a trance and had visions of you. You were very kind to me in my dreams. I think I was content to lie there in the blistering heat and fever just to dream of you."
"Poor fellow!" she said softly. She was walking beside him, trailing her furled parasol in the grass, and she had a vague feeling of amazement that she could still go on, for there is no torture so great as the necessity to hurt one who is greatly loved, and Rachel was tasting the dregs of her cup.
"When that old chap told me that I was promoted and ordered home, I fainted. You see what a jolly fool I was, Miss Leven, but the joy was too great; I was going to see you again. I thought of that all the way; I was thinking of it when I came through the wood just now,—that I'd soon see you, that I could speak to you at last, tell you all that's been in my heart through these three years of exile. You know I never could write a decent letter; I'm a perfect lumpkin with a pen! Rachel, when I came across the brook and saw you, I—"
She stopped him. "Hush!" she said, with white lips. "I'm married."
He stood still. All the joy of life slipped out of his face and she saw it grow gray before her eyes. He straightened himself with a shuddering start as if a shot had struck him, for his faith in her, one of the vital realities of his life, had received a terrible shock. She had led him on into fond and foolish talk; she had led him on to bare his heart to her!
"I've made a jolly fool of myself!" he said bitterly.