She would not even confide in Peg. All she would do was to beg her to ask no questions.
"It's all over and done with," she said tremblingly. "You said he would not come back. I hope he never will."
"I said I should not be at all surprised if he didn't," Peg answered. "But, of course, he may do. Sometimes in novelettes the villain of the story turns out to be the hero after all, you know."
Faith did not think it was at all likely in this case, and the days began slowly to creep away.
When a fortnight had gone and the seventeenth day drew near, panic closed about her heart. Supposing he came after all?
She had had no word from him, and she hardly knew whether to be glad or sorry. Perhaps it meant that he never would come back. She wished she could believe this.
At other times, lying awake at night in her little room with its sloping roof, against her will she was forced to remember every word the Beggar Man had said to her, every kindly action that he had done, and there was always a great unanswered question in her mind.
"Why did he marry me if he was bad, as they say he is? He need not have married me. There are heaps of other girls in the world."