At his touch she broke into convulsive sobbing.
"You don't understand me," she sobbed. "It is over. It is all over."
He withdrew his hand quickly; he caught his breath.
"What—what——" he stammered.
"O, Jim!" she cried.
"Muriel," he besought her, "tell me. What—how? When? You don't mean——"
"Yes, yes," she moaned, her hands still tight before her face.
Stainton stood erect. He clenched his fists in an effort to control himself. He pleaded to his ears that they had not heard correctly; his reason declared that, if his ears had heard aright, this was the fancy of an ailing woman; but his frame trembled, and his voice shook as he began again:
"You don't mean——"
"I do, I do. Oh, let me alone! Don't ask me any more!"