ontent her had made him unwisely
avoid talk about differences of opinion. In fact his normal attitude was
dictated by such gentle solicitude as is not uncommon in very virile men,
who have long memory for the careless or casual sharp word. To the end of
his days he never suspected that to have been less the lover and more the
clear-sighted outspoken friend would have been better for her and for
him. He sat into the night smoking pipe after pipe, grappling with a
situation which would have presented no difficulties to a coarser nature.
At last he went upstairs, listened a moment at Ann's chamber door, and
having smoked too much spent a thought-tormented night, out of which he
won one conclusion--the need to discuss his trouble with some friend. At
six he rose and dressed, asked the astonished cook for an egg and coffee,
went to the stables, and ordered a groom to saddle horses and follow him.

A wild gallop over perilously slippery roads brought him to McGregor's
door, a quarter of a mile from the mills. The doctor was at breakfast,
and rose up astonished. "What's wrong now, Penhallow?" he said.

"Oh, everything--everything."

"Then sit down and let us talk. What is it?"

The Squire took himself in hand and quietly related his story of the
contract and his wife's reception of what had been to him so agreeable
until she had spoken.

"Can you bear--I said it yesterday to Mrs. Penhallow--a frank opinion?"

"Yes, from you--anything."

"Have no alarm about her health, my friend. It is only the hysteria of a
woman a little spoiled by too tender indulgence."

The Squire did not like it, but said, "Oh, perhaps! But now--the
rest--the rest--what am I to do?" The doctor sat still a while in
perplexed thought. "Take your time," said Penhallow. "I have sent the
horses to the stable at the mills, where my partners are to meet me
early to-day."

The doctor said, "Mrs. Penhallow will be more or less herself to-day. I
will see her early. There are several ways of dealing with this matter.
You can take out of the business her share of the stock."

"That would be simple. My partners would take it now and gladly."

"What else you do depends on her condition of mind and the extent to
which you are willing to give way before the persistency of a woman who
feels and does not or can not reason."

"Then I am not now to do anything but tell her that I will take her stock
out of the business."

"That may relieve her. So far I can g