the pretence of being blind to its approach?

An operation had been the final chance, and the chance had failed.
Out from the stupor of ether, out from the hours of bewildering
pain, Captain Frazer had come back to an interval of full
consciousness, of fuller knowledge that, for him, this painless
interval was but the prelude to the final painless sleep.
Nevertheless, the man who had helped other men to die unflinchingly
was facing death with a grave, unflinching smile, albeit life to him
was good and full of promise. The interval was short. He would pass
through it in manlike fashion, and, meanwhile, give thanks that
beside his bed sat the one woman in whom his whole future so long
had centered.

The slow moments passed by, unheeded. It was an hour since the
surgeons had gone away; it was nearly an hour since Alice Mellen had
followed the surgeons. Instinctively she realized that her place was
otherwhere. There was no need now for skilled nurses. Ethel could do
all the little which would be required, and it was Ethel's right to
stay.

Since Alice had left them, no word had been spoken. The Captain had
little strength for words as yet. It was taking all his energy and
courage to face the truth and to accept it. Only an hour before, his
crippled career had seemed to him unbearable. Now, as he lay with
his eyes fixed on the girl beside him, he realized how much of
potential sweetness that dreary alternative had held. And yet, Fate
had drawn him into the battle, and it was something that he had met
Fate bravely and in the foremost rank. So far, he had never funked a
fight; if it took his last bit of strength, he would go pluckily
through this last, worse fight which he was destined to face. He
stirred slightly, and shut his teeth on his lower lip; but his eyes
never dropped from Ethel's face. From the farther side of the bed,
Weldon, too, was watching Ethel. If he lived to full fivescore
years, he could never forget her face as he had met her at the
hospital door, that morning. Exhausted with the excitement of the
battle, stiff with his half-dressed wounds, soiled and untidy and
haggard, he had paused beside the ambulance while the attendants had
lifted the stretcher and borne the Captain up the low flight of
steps. Then, like a man in a dream, he had followed along behind
them until, on the very threshold, he had raised his heavy eyes to
see Ethel standing before him, a broad shaft of sunshine pouring
down upon her t