He laughed uneasily. “Have you anything else to ask?”
“I do not think of anything,” she replied, and there was silence.
The husband got up, and went to the door. The sun was sinking down the west. He looked at the glow it made, and remembered how he had seen it there in the days that were past, how quiet and peaceful his life had been, how much happier, had he but known it, than in the turmoil of later years. Then the days had been full of healthful employment, the nights of rest and refreshment, untroubled by the feverish dreams that now swarmed in his sleeping hours. And what was it that had made his life so happy? What had been the motive, the delight of everything? Nothing but Bessie, always Bessie, his help and his reward.
He turned his face, and saw her still sitting there, her head drooping, her hands folded in her lap. Those [pg 514] hands caught his glance. They were pale and thin. They looked as though she had suffered.
He went to her impulsively as his heart stirred, and put his arm about her shoulder. “Bessie, forget the last years, and let's be as we were in the happy old time.”
She did not look angry; but she withdrew herself gently from him.
“John,” she said, “that is too much to expect at once. Years of pain cannot be forgotten in a moment. When you came to-day, you asked if Bessie Ware lived here. She does not. The Bessie Ware you married is dead. I scarcely know yet who or what I am. I only know that I shall try to do my duty by you, and repair some of the faults and mistakes of the past. But, John, I must warn you that it is harder to reconcile an estranged wife than to win a bride.”
One piercing glance, angry and disappointed, shot from his eyes; then he went to the outer door. He stood a moment on the threshold, then stepped on to the greensward. Another pause, and he walked slowly back through the garden, seeming not to know whither he went.
Aunt Nancy, anxiously awaiting signs of reconciliation, saw him wander about aimlessly, then go and lean on a fence next the woods, his back to the house.
She went into the front room at once. She was on John's side now.