And then he had suggested that she should go alone perhaps for a shorter
time, and stay in her brother's villa with the children, Alice and
Stephen. It was always open to her as she well knew.

"You need the change," he said, when the lamps had been lit and the
servant had gone out again; "you need it as much as I dread it. I could
manage somehow until you returned, and should feel happier that way if
you went. I cannot leave this Forest that I love so well. I even feel,
Sophie dear"--he sat up straight and faced her as he half whispered
it--"that I can _never_ leave it again. My life and happiness lie here
together."

And eve while scorning the idea that she could leave him alone with the
Influence of the Forest all about him to have its unimpeded way, she
felt the pangs of that subtle jealousy bite keen and close. He loved the
Forest better than herself, for he placed it first. Behind the words,
moreover, hid the unuttered thought that made her so uneasy. The terror
Sanderson had brought revived and shook its wings before her very eyes.
For the whole conversation, of which this was a fragment, conveyed the
unutterable implication that while he could not spare the trees, they
equally could not spare him. The vividness with which he managed to
conceal and yet betray the fact brought a profound distress that crossed
the border between presentiment and warning into positive alarm.

He clearly felt that the trees would miss him--the trees he tended,
guarded, watched over, loved.

"David, I shall stay here with you. I think you need me really,--don't
you?" Eagerly, with a touch of heart-felt passion, the words poured out.