een one of
them. But only for a short time. _You_ were his wife.' And then I asked
her if her married life had not been happy.

"'Yes, yes,' she answered. 'I worshipped him.' And as she said this she
began at last to sob, and the first tears she had shed flowed from her
eyes, which had been so dulled and narrowed that they had looked dead.
But she had not been satisfied, and later she came back to the subject
again. She did it suddenly; seizing my arm, and lifting herself up, she
cried out quickly that first sentence overheard by Bagshot--'I shall
never rest until you tell me all!' Then, in a beseeching tone, she
added: 'Do not keep it from me. I know that he did not love me as I
loved him; still, he loved me, and I--was content. What you have to
tell, therefore, can not hurt me, for--I was content. Then speak, Anne,
speak.'

"I tried to quiet her, but she clung to me entreatingly. 'Tell me--tell
me all,' she begged. 'When they bring him home, and I see his still face
lying in the coffin, I want to stand beside him with my hand upon his
breast, and whisper that I know all, understand all, forgive all, if
there were anything to forgive. Anne, he will be glad to hear that--yes,
even in death; for I loved him--love him--with all my soul, and he must
know it now, there where he has gone. With all my imperfections, my
follies, my deceptions, I loved him--loved him--loved him.' She began to
weep, and I too burst into tears. It seemed to _me_ also that he would
be glad to hear that sentence of hers, that forgiveness. And so, judging
her by myself, I did tell her all."

She paused, and her voice trembled, as though in another moment it would
break into sobs.

"What did you tell her?" said Dexter. He was leaning back in his chair,
his face divested of all expression save a rigid impartiality.

"Must I repeat it?"

"Of course, if I am to know all."

"I told her that at Caryl's we had been much together," she began, with
downcast eyes; "that, after a while, he made himself seem much nearer to
me by--by speaking of--by asking me about--sacred things--I mean a
religious belief." (Here her listener's face showed a quick gleam of
angry contempt, but she did not see it.) "Then, after this, one morning
in the garden, when I was in great trouble, he--spoke to me--in another
way. And when I went away from Caryl's he followed me, and we were
together on a train during one day; mademoiselle was with us. At evening
I left the train