to my
cable."
"Yes, I know," said Ranger.
He turned from her abruptly and walked to the window. The darkness
had drawn close. It hung like a black curtain beyond the pane.
The only light in the room was a lamp that burned on a side table.
It illumined him but dimly, and again it seemed to the girl who
watched him that this could be no other than the Guy of her
dreams--the Guy she had loved so faithfully, for whose sake she had
waited so patiently for so many weary years. Surely it was he who
had made the mistake! Surely even yet he would turn and gather her
to his heart, and laugh at her folly for being so easily deluded!
Ah! He had turned. He stood looking at her across the
dimly-lighted space. Her very heart stood still to hear his voice.
He spoke. "The best thing you can do is to go back to the place
you came from--and marry someone else."
The words went through her. They seemed to tear and lacerate her.
As in a nightmare vision she saw the bitterness that lay behind
her, the utter emptiness before. She still stared full at him, but
she saw him not. Her terror had taken awful shape before her, and
all her courage was gone. She cowered before it.
"I can't--I can't!" she said, and even to herself her voice sounded
weak and broken, like the cry of a lost child. "I can't go back!"
He came across the room to her, moving quickly, as if something
urged him. She did not know that she had flung out her hands in
wild despair until she felt him gather them together in his own.
He bent over her, and she saw very clearly in his countenance that
which had made her realize that he was not Guy. "Look here!" he
said. "Have a meal and go to bed! We will talk it out in the
morning. You are worn out now."
His voice held insistence. There was no softness in it. Had he
displayed kindness in that moment she would have burst into tears.
But he put her hands down again with a brief, repressive gesture,
and the impulse passed. She yielded him obedience, scarcely
knowing what she did.
He brought her food and wine, and she ate and drank mechanically
while he watched her with his grey, piercing eyes, not speaking at
all.
Finally she summoned strength to look up at him with a quivering
smile. "You are very kind. I am sorry to have given you so much
trouble."
He made an abrupt movement that she fancied denoted impatience.
"Can't you eat any more?" he said.
She shook her head, still bravely smil
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