Virginia lay very still for a while, then covered her face with both hands.
"Oh, my dear, my dear!" breathed Shiela, bending close beside her.
Virginia lay motionless for a moment, then uncovered her face.
"It is strange," she said, in a colourless, almost inaudible voice. "You see I am simply helpless—dependent on your mercy.... Because a woman does not faint over—nothing."
The deep distress in Shiela's eyes held her silent for a space. She looked back at her, then her brooding gaze shifted to the laden branches overhead, to the leafy vistas beyond, to the ground where the golden fruit lay burning in the red, level rays of the western sun.
"I did not know he was married," she said vacantly.
Swift anger burned in Shiela's cheeks.
"He was a coward not to tell you—"
"He was honourable about it," said Virginia, in the same monotonous voice. "Do you think I am shameless to admit it? Perhaps I am, but it is fairer to him. As you know this much, you should know the truth. And the truth is that he has never said he loved me."
Her face had become pinched and ghastly, but her mouth never quivered under this final humiliation.