To-night that steady gaze which wandered over the drooping flowers was
really fixed upon that empty chair at the other end of the table. A man
of few fancies, he was never quite without imagination. His thoughts had
travelled easily back to a few weeks ago. He saw Virginia sitting there,
watched the delightful smile coming and going, the large grey eyes that
watched him so ceaselessly, the little ripple of pleasant conversation,
which he had never dreamed that he could ever miss. After all, what a
child! As a matter of justice, and he told himself that it was justice
only which had power to sway his judgment, what right had he to blame
her for what was really nothing but a freak of ill-fortune! Had he
punished himself in sending her away? Somehow, during these last few
nights, the room had seemed curiously cold and empty. He had missed her
little timidly offered ministrations, the touch of her fingers upon his
shoulder, the whole nameless delicacy which her presence had brought
into the cold, magnificent surroundings, which seemed to him now as
though they could never be quite the same again.
These thoughts had come to him before, but it was only to-night he had
suffered them to linger in his mind.
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