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e him again for many hours. XVI From sheer exhaustion she slept at last, but her sleep was broken and unrefreshing. She turned and tossed, dozing and waking in utter weariness of mind and body till the day was far advanced. Finally, too restless to lie any longer, she arose and dressed. The sound of voices took her to her window before she left her room, and she saw her husband on horseback with Curtis standing by his side. A sense of relief shot through her at sight of the latter. She had come to rely upon him more than she knew. While she watched, Mercer raised his bridle and rode slowly away without a backward glance. And again she was conscious of relief. Curtis stood looking after him for a few seconds, then turned and entered the house. She met him in the passage outside her room. He greeted her gravely. "I was just coming to see if I could do anything for you," he said. "Thank you," she answered nervously. "I am better now. Where has my husband gone?" He did not answer her immediately. He turned aside to the room in which she generally sat, standing back for her to pass him. "I have something to say to you," he said. She glanced at him anxiously as she took the chair he offered her. "In the first place," he said, "you will be wise if you keep absolutely quiet for the next few days. There will be nothing to disturb you. Mercer is not returning at present. He has left you in my charge." "Oh, why?" she said. Her hands were locked together. She had begun to tremble from head to foot. Curtis was watching her quietly. "I think," he said, "that he is better away from you for a time, and he agrees with me." "Why?" she said again, lifting her piteous eyes. "Is he so angry with me?" "With you? No. He has come to his senses in that respect. But he is not in a particularly safe mood, and he knows it. He has gone to fight it out by himself." Curtis paused, but Sybil did not speak. Her attitude had relaxed. He read unmistakble relief in every line. "Well, now," he said deliberately, "I am going to tell you the exact truth of this business, as Mercer himself has told it to me." "He wishes me to know it?" she asked quickly. "He is willing that I should tell you," Curtis answered. "In fact, until he saw me to-day he believed that you knew it already. That was the primary cause of his savagery last night. You have probably formed a very shrewd suspicion of what happened, but it
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