dykes at last were down;
and strong, bright, but most beautiful, the sea came rushing in. As
she saw him coming toward her and knew that in a moment more she would
be in his arms, and that at his first touch she would let everything
go, she found one word to say and it proved only to be his name:

"Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy!"

But there was in it an appeal. She could count the times she had wept
in her life, very nearly, she had often said that a woman weeps only
when she has nothing else to do, and there had always been so much,
every minute in her life; and as if in logical affirmation there seemed
now for her nothing to do but to cry. The tears which covered her face
and fell into her palms and against the chair on which she leaned,
comforted her in a measure and served to loosen the tension of her
mind. She had succeeded in miraculously keeping away from him, just
within touch of her, held back by a hand whose white gentleness was not
so exquisitely strong but that he loved her too well to break the
tender barrier. She never afterward knew what appeals she made or how
she besought, but it must have been of great force to keep him so
transfixed and pale.

"Oh, you _have_ told me over and over again! Do you think I am deaf or
blind, or that I have found you dumb? Such love, Jimmy, such high,
sweet perfectness! Why, there isn't a woman in a million who has known
it or even dreamed what such love could mean. Why, there hasn't been a
day or an hour for ten years that you have not spoken it to me in the
most adorable way, in the most beautiful way; and in every kind thing
you have done, in every foolish, dear thing, I have been so vain as to
think that I counted for something in it, that you did it a little for
me. Other women have had their lovers, their scandals, their great
passions. But I have had you without flaw, without a change, without
regret. Hush!" she cried, wiping her tears away, "Hush. It's quite
safe to let me go on. The only fear is that _you_ may speak."

The arm which she had held out to keep him from her had fallen upon his
shoulder, lay about his neck as he knelt by her chair.

"It's been horrible!" she said, shaking her head, "Horrible--the days
and the nights, the days and the nights! There have been times when I
could have killed him and killed myself as well. But then you've come,
and your presence has helped me, and that's the way I've pulled along;
because by your silence you told