themselves,' I said. 'If they distrust Evesham they must settle
with him themselves.'

"She looked at me doubtfully.

"'But war--' she said.

"I saw a doubt on her face that I had seen before, a doubt of
herself and me, the first shadow of the discovery that, seen
strongly and completely, must drive us apart for ever.

"Now, I was an older mind than hers, and I could sway her to
this belief or that.

"'My dear one,' I said, 'you must not trouble over these
things. There will be no war. Certainly there will be no war.
The age of wars is past. Trust me to know the justice of this
case. They have no right upon me, dearest, and no one has a right
upon me. I have been free to choose my life, and I have chosen
this.'

"'But war--,' she said.

"I sat down beside her. I put an arm behind her and took her
hand in mine. I set myself to drive that doubt away--I set myself
to fill her mind with pleasant things again. I lied to her, and in
lying to her I lied also to myself. And she was only too ready to
believe me, only too ready to forget.

"Very soon the shadow had gone again, and we were hastening to