table. He hated the task he had set himself
to do. All the tenderness in him revolted against it. He knew what this
woman whom he cared for very much had suffered; he divined what she
was suffering now. And he was going to add to her accumulated misery by
striking a tremendous blow at the most sacred thing, her pride of woman.
Would she be his enemy after he had spoken? It was possible. Yet he must
speak.

"He said to me--'Leith has a great heart. When will his wife understand
its greatness?'"

There was a long silence. Then, without changing her position or lifting
her head, Rosamund said in a hard, level voice:

"Canon Wilton was right about my husband."

"He loved you. That's a great deal. But he loved you in a very beautiful
way. And that's much more."

"Who told you--about the way he loved me?"

"Your sister, Beatrice."

"Beattie! Yes, she knew--she understood."

She bent her head a little lower, then added:

"Beattie is worth more than I am."

"You are worth a great deal, but--but I want to see you rise to the
heights of your nature. I want to see you accomplish the greatest task
of all."

"Yes?"

"Conquer the last citadel of your egoism. _Ego dormio et cor meum
vigilat_--Send the insistent I to sleep. I said it to you long ago
before I knew you. I say it to you now when I do know you, when I know
the deep waters you have passed through, and the darkness that has beset
you. Fetter your egoism. Release your heart and your spirit in one great
action. Don't let him go down forever because of you. I believe
your misery has been as nothing in comparison with his. If he has
fallen--such a man--why is it?"

"I know why," she almost whispered.

"You can never mount up while you are driving a soul downwards. Do you
remember those words in the Bible: 'Where thou goest I will go'?"

"Yes."

"Perhaps they might be changed in respect of you and the man who loved
you so much and in such a beautiful way. You were linked; can the link
ever be broken? You have tried to break it, but have you succeeded? And
if not, wouldn't it be true, drastically true, if you said--Where thou
goest I _must_ go? If he goes down because of you I think you'll go down
with him."

Rosamund sat absolutely still. When Father Robertson paused again there
was not a sound in the little room.

"And one thing more," he said, not looking towards her. "There's the
child, your child and his. Is it well with the child?"

Rosamund moved