“Forgive me,” she said. “Sometimes I hardly know what I'm saying.”
“If you would only trust me!”
She shook her head sadly.
“I can trust no one, not even you. Let me go now.”
He saw that she was at the end of her strength. Any concession that she might make now would be for him a Pyrrhic victory. And it was true that he had tortured her—tortured her, as his whole being asserted, for her soul's welfare. But he could probe her no further.
They walked in silence toward the house. Constable, as soon as they had passed, rose and followed them. It is for the greater happiness of big-hearted dogs that they do not understand all things human.
At the foot of the staircase leading to Stella's wing they parted.
“Stella, darling,” said he, taking her hand, “if you will believe nothing else, believe this: all our hearts are breaking for you.”
She looked at him for a long, odd moment, with the diamond glitter in her eyes.
“Mine is broken,” she said.