He was hostile for an instant—an old vindictive self resenting this touch upon his gift of self-revelation. The protecting thought followed quickly that the book was in no way changed by this accident of encountering the wrong publisher. The really important part of the incident followed these insignificant thoughts: Above all things, this letter would help to prove to Betty Berry his need for her. He would not send it out again at once. This refusal would weigh more than anything he could say, to prove that loneliness had been too much, too strong for him—that it had thrown his work out of reality, instead of into it.... He was bending over her. A step at the door, and he turned to find Helen Quiston there.
9
She entered and went to the cot, without words, but pressed his hand as she passed....
“You were there—and you let her get so low as this.”
Helen turned to search his face. “Yes,” she said.
“Who is this—Guardian?”
“Some angel that came to her, I think.”
“He seems very real to her——”
“Angels are real.”
“Angels do not make saints suffer——”