Tied for ever to a brute whom she
despised and hated, sacrificed to no purpose; whilst here, alive and
well, stood the man to whom in ardent youth she had plighted her
undisciplined heart. The thought maddened her. And as she struggled to
choke back this overwhelming rush of feeling, her husband's unwelcome
entrance broke the tension of a scene the strain of which was past
bearing.
Surely it was in an evil moment for himself that her husband entered
that room. In a clumsy effort to propitiate his wife's guest, the
unfortunate man laid his hand on the head of the visitor's dog, and with
vicious side-snap the animal bit his hand to the bone.
No consideration had the wife for her husband's sufferings, no trace of
sympathy did she show, as, with an oath, he hurried from the room to
bind up the ugly wound--her whole being was centred in the man before
her. And her very heart stood still when her stunned ears realised that
that man was now saying farewell. Lamentations and entreaties were of no
avail. "There remained nothing else for a man of honour to do," he said.
All these years he had been faithful to her; all these years no other
woman had entered his thoughts. Had she been as true to him as he had
ever been to her, the dearest wish of his heart would have been
fulfilled.
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