Sheldrick muttered an oath. But in his soul he was yielding. “Aquila No. 1,� “Aquila No. 2,� and “Aquila No. 3� were dear to his soul. But he had awakened to the fact that his dearest possession was the love of his wife. And he had been killing it by inches. He met her eyes now—the stern gray eyes that had learned to see him as he was and look on the bare realities of life, shorn of its love glamour, and muttered:
“It is true. I have promised over and over.... And I owe it to you to take no more risks, even more than if we had a living child to.... Where are those cable-forms?�
He strode to the ink-splashed writing table between the windows, and routed the bundle of greenish papers out of the frowsy blotting book, and dipped the blunt pen into the thick, dirty ink, and wrote:
“To Ledru, Hôtel National, Cherbourg, France.
“Unavoidably compelled break engagement——�
He was struck by a sudden idea, ceased writing, and left the room, going into the adjoining bedroom. His wife, standing dumb and frozen on the gaudy hearthrug near the empty grate, heard him rummaging for something. He came back in a few minutes with a heavy brow and preoccupied look, and took a leather strap from the pocket of the heavy overcoat he had thrown upon the sofa. With this he went back into the bedroom. The door handle rattled as though something were being hitched about it, the stout door groaned and creaked under a violent pull from the other side, there was a horrible, suggestive crack, and a stifled oath from Sheldrick. Next moment he was back in the room, dipping the blunt pen into the bad ink, and finishing the cablegram:
“Left wrist badly sprained—Sheldrick, Pavilion Hotel, Links, Greymouth, England.�
Having finished writing, he brought the filled form to his wife. She read, and looked at him in eloquent silence. And, in answer to the question in her eyes, he held out his left hand, already swollen and purple, and with a swelling of the dimensions of a cricket ball, indicating the dislocated joint. A cry broke from her:
“Oh! how could you....�
“It was the easiest way,� said Sheldrick, flushed and scowling. “Call me a coward, if you like. I deserve it—as well as the other names!� He rang the bell, and fished with the sound hand for silver in a trouser pocket.
“We’ll send the cable now,� he said.