more than as a husband. His allusion to the
supposed Papal absurdity disgusted her at such a time, only faintly,
because of her weakness, but distinctly, and in a way to be remembered.

She recovered; but just as the child was beginning to smile, and to
express an approbation of life by murmurous gurglings, an infantile
disease gripped it, held it, would not release it. And Winifred knelt
beside it, dead, and thought, with a new and vital horror, of the
invalid world playing cards upon the drawn coverlet of its bed. Baby was
outside that chamber now, beyond the curtained windows, outside in sun
or shower that she could not see, could only dream of, while the game of
"Patience" went on and on.

III.

The death of the child meant more to Winifred than she would at first
acknowledge even to herself. Almost unconsciously she had looked forward
to its birth as to a release from bondage. There are moments when a duet
is gaol, a trio comparative liberty. The child, the tiny intruder into
youthful married life, may come in the guise of an imp or of a good
fairy: one to cloud the perfect and complete joy of two, or one to give
sunlight to their nascent weariness and dissatisfaction. Or, again, it
may be looked for with longing by one of two lovers, with apprehension
by the other. Only when it lay dead did Winifred understand that Eustace
was to her a stranger, and that she was lonely alone with him. The "Au
revoir" of two bodies may be sweet, but the "Au revoir" of two minds is
generally but a hypocritical or sarcastic rendering of the tragic word
"Adieu." Winifred's mind cried "Au revoir" to the mind of Eustace, to
his nature, to his love, but deep in her soul trembled the minor music,
the shuddering discord, of "Adieu." Adieu to the body of child; adieu
more complete, more eternal, to the soul of husband. Which good bye was
the stranger? She stood as at cross-roads, and watched, with hand-shaded
eyes, the tiny, wayward babe dwindling on its journey to heaven; the man
she had married dwindling on his journey--whither? And the one she had a
full hope of meeting again, but the other----

After the funeral the Lanes took up once more the old dual life which
had been momentarily interrupted. Had it not been for the interruption,
Winifred fancied that she might not have awakened to the full knowledge
of her own feelings towards Eustace until a much later period. But the
baby's birth, existence, passing away, were a blow up