She nodded. Great tears coursed down her face. “Yes Alexis, this is the end. You must stand by Claire now. I shall love you more than ever for doing it.”
“It will kill me to part from you.” He pressed a tear-wet cheek against hers. For an anguished moment, they rocked to and fro in silent grief.
She spoke at last, in a weak little voice, unlike her own. “Better perhaps that we should part while we still love each other. Then—then we shall always remember it so.”
A bitter-sweet smile twisted his lips. “Were you afraid my love would get tepid? You were mistaken. If I didn’t love you so consumingly, I couldn’t part with you now. If this were only passion,” his voice broke, “I might have been tempted to let things drift as they were until, until you discovered.”
A beautiful look of comprehension crossed her face. She pressed Alexis’ head to her bosom in a passion of tenderness. “You are more noble than I dreamed.”
He groaned. “Not noble at all, only suffering, Anne.”
“Tell me what you intend to do? Of course you will go on your tour?”
“Don’t ask me, I hardly know as yet, what I shall do on my return. I will make the best arrangements for Claire that I can. But I will never live with her as my wife, and perhaps not even under the same roof.”
“Poor Alexis, poor boy,” Anne felt him shudder as he lay against her.
“Does it hurt you to say good-by?” The whisper was dragged from the anguish in his heart.