that time, for
the anxiety she suffered was sometimes more than she could bear. For
Piers had gone from her without a word. Straight from Jeanie's
death-bed he had gone, without a single word of explanation or farewell.
That she had wounded him deeply, albeit inadvertently, on that last day
she knew; but with his arm closely clasping her by Jeanie's bedside she
had dared to hope that he had forgiven the wound. Now she felt that it
was otherwise. He had gone from her in bitterness of soul, and the
barrier between them was such that she could not call him back. More and
more the conviction grew upon her that those moments of tenderness had
been no more than a part of the game he had summoned her to play for
Jeanie's sake. He had called it a hollow bargain. He had declared that
for no other reason would he have proposed it to her. And now that the
farce was over, he had withdrawn from it. He had said that he had not
found it easy. He had called it mere pretence. And now she had begun to
think that he meant their separation to be final. If he had uttered one
word of farewell, if he had but sent her a line later, she knew that she
would have responded in some measure even though the gulf between them
remained unbridged. But his utter silence was unassailable. The
conviction grew upon her that he no longer desired to bridge the gulf.
He meant to accept their estrangement as inevitable. He had left her,
and he did not wish to return.

Through the long weary watches of many nights Avery pondered his
attitude, and sought in vain for any other explanation. She came at
last to believe that the fierce flame of his passion had wholly burnt
itself out, consuming all the love he had ever known; and that only
ashes remained.

So she could not call him back, and for a time she even shrank from
asking news of him. Then one day she met Victor sorrowfully exercising
Caesar along the confines of the Park, and stopped him when with a
melancholy salute he would have passed her by.

His eyes brightened a little at her action, but he volunteered no
information and she decided later that he had obeyed orders in adopting
this attitude. With an effort she questioned him. How was it he was not
with his master?

He spread out his hands in mournful protest. _Mais Monsieur Pierre_ had
not required his services _depuis longtemps._ He was become very
independent. But yes, he was engaged upon war work. In the Army? But yes
again. Did not _Madame_ kn