Dunbar shook his head. "I've got to get back to town in the morning. And
I'm not sure that the excitement will be good for Anne."

"Why not?" quickly. "Aren't you well, Anne?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Ridgeley seems to think I'm not. But the
circus can't hurt me."

Nothing more was said about it. Christopher decided to ask Ridgeley
later. But the opportunity did not come until Anne had gone up-stairs,
and Dunbar and Christopher were smoking a final cigar on the porch.

"What's the matter with her?" Christopher asked.

Dunbar told him, "She can't get well."



III


Anne, getting ready for bed, on the evening of Christopher's arrival,
felt unaccountably tired. His presence had been, perhaps, a bit
over-stimulating. It was good to have him back. She scarcely dared admit
to herself how good. After dinner she and Ridgeley and Christopher had
walked down to the grove of birches. There had been a new moon, and she
and Ridgeley had sat on the stone bench with Christopher at their feet.
She had leaned her head against her husband's shoulder, and he had put
his arm about her in the dark and had drawn her to him. He was rarely
demonstrative, and his tenderness had to-night for some reason hurt her.