and talking things over calmly on the golden shore. . . . Isn't
it lovely here! Oh, you don't know how nice it is to be getting well!"

"And I made you go through all that," he said chokingly, reaching out
instinctively for one of the thin little hands that lay contentedly
outside the silk shawl, and then pulling back again.

Marjorie looked at him consideringly. She couldn't help thinking, for
a moment, how lovely this would be if it wasn't a case of the golden
shore; if Francis and she hadn't messed things up so; if they had come
up here because they loved each other, and trusted each other to make
happiness; and if Francis, instead of taking his hand back that way,
had held hers as if he had the right to. And she remembered suddenly
their marriage night. He had flung himself down beside her and wrapped
her in his arms, and she had not quite liked it; she had shrunk away
from him. She was so weak now, and it felt a little lonely--if he put
his arms around her now she thought she would like it. But then she
was ill yet, and emotional; probably it was the same feeling that made
men propose to their nurses when they were convalescing. A nurse had
told her about it once, and added that it was considered very unethical
to take a man up on that sort of a proposal. That was it--you just
wanted somebody to be kind to you.

"Perhaps if I had a cat," said Marjorie inadvertently, aloud.

"Would you like one?" demanded Francis. "I'll get it this afternoon."

"Yes, I guess so," she answered, coloring again. "But what made you
think of a cat?"

"Oh, I just did," she answered untruthfully. "You see--you see, I'm
not strong yet, and my mind rambled around in an inconsequent sort of
way. It just happened on cats. But, Francis, you mustn't reproach
yourself. I know you are feeling altogether too badly about what you
did. But you mustn't. That's just the way you're made. You haven't
nice tame emotions, and in a way you're better so. Why, people like
you, all energy and force and attraction, get so much farther in life.
You're going to be a wonderful success, I know, just because you are so
intense. You meant all right. I know lots of girls who would have
been awfully flattered at your being so jealous. They'd have thought
it meant you were in love with them terribly."

"They'd have thought right," he said.

She looked at him--she had been talking with her eyes on a green tree
over in the distance. His head