He ended. He came to her and knelt once more. Not feeling him, she let him.
“Fanny, my dearest, my wife, my wife ... do you forgive me?”
Not feeling him there, she was very quiet.
“I do not feel, my love, that there is anything to forgive.”
She looked straight, a little to the side of his white face. She was still.
“We were young,” then she said.—I must speak. “And did not know. All that is past, but is good ... all ... since now we know.”
“I have sinned deeply. Forgive me.”
“You wandered loosely, because I held you loose: because you did not hold me. Now we clasp each other close. It is not a sin to have been a child.”
“Bless you. Bless you.”
“I have learned——“