n
death, for of course with his weak health he could not hope to outlive
anybody for very long. Mrs Lorton's absence at dinner struck him as more
pathetic than all the misery of the travailing universe, until he
remembered that at last he could gratify his appetite, and even accept
two _entrees_ at the hands of the waiter.

Life, if it is full of sorrows, is also full of consolations.

He ate steadily for a couple of hours, pitying himself all the time.

Next day Mrs Lorton re-appeared in a very bad temper. Her seclusion,
although it had enabled her to score several points off her rival, had
been in other respects wearisome and vexatious. She barely nodded to
Burnham, and went out towards the shelter alone. He followed furtively,
longing, as usual, for condolence, and presently saw her seat herself
facing the sea. The strained relations between them seemed to forbid his
placing himself at her side. The back-to-back posture would be more
illustrative of the exact position of affairs, and Burnham's nicety and
accuracy of mind induced him accordingly to face Westgate. Their
positions of the first day were thus reversed. She looked at the sea; he
stared at the villas. Strange turmoil of life, in which we never know
which way we shall be facing next! It struck Burnham suddenly, and so
forcibly, _a propos_ of his and Mrs Lorton's reversal, that the ready
tears sprang to his eyes. How would it all end? Man spins about like a
tee-to-tum, bowing to all points of the compass. The time comes when the
tee-to-tum runs down--and what then? Burnham was certainly run down.
That must be his excuse for what he did. He glanced behind him through
the glass screen, and saw by the motion of Mrs Lorton's back that she
was sobbing. In truth, the sight of the dancing waves had set her
thinking of all the poor people who have been drowned in water since the
beginning of things. Poor dead folk! She was trembling with emotion, and
still wept mechanically when she found Mr Burnham on her side of the
shelter proposing to her with all his might and main. He was asking her
to comfort him, to be a true woman and shield him with her strength, to
support his tottering footsteps along the rugged ways of life, to dry
his tears and stay the agonies of his shaken soul.

"Your health will help my weakness," he said. "Your vigour will teach me
to be strong."

It was a strange proposal, and she began to defend herself from his
imputations, stating her mala