'My dear Emily, you must not excite yourself. The doctor----'

'I want to know why she said she was going to leave. Has she been
complaining about me to you? What is her reason for wanting to go?'

'We do not get on together as we used to--that is all, Emily. I can please
you no longer.'

'It is not my fault if we do not get on. I don't see why we shouldn't, and
I do not want you to go.'

'Emily, dear, everything shall be as you like it.'

The girl looked at him with the shy, doubting look of an animal that would
like, and still does not dare, to go to the beckoning hand. How frail
seemed the body in the black dress! and how thin the arms in the black
sleeves! Hubert took the little hand in his. At his touch a look of content
and rest passed into her eyes, and she yielded herself as the leaf yields
to the wind. She was all his when he chose. Mrs. Bentley left the room;
and, seeing her go, a light of sudden joy illuminated the thin, pale face;
and when the door closed, and she was alone with him, the bleak, unhappy
look, which had lately grown strangely habitual to her, faded out of her
face and eyes. He fetched her shawl, and took her hand again in his,
knowing that by so doing he made her happy. He could not refuse her the
peace from pain that these attentions brought her, though he would have
held himself aloof from all women but one. She knew the truth well enough;
but they who suffer much think only of the cessation of pain. He wondered
at the inveigling content that introduced itself into her voice, face, and
gesture. Settling herself comfortably on the sofa, she said--