That  note  of  tenderness  had  been  missing  these
many  weeks.  Teresa  sat  motionless;  two  tears
rolled  from  under  her  closed  eyelids.
"  Well  .  .  .  what  else  was  it,  besides
money?  "  she  asked,  after  a  moment.
"  Oh,  I  have  been  thinking  about  you — and
how  we  are  bound  together."

"  Yes."

"And  yet  you  did  a  great  deal  to  break  that
down.  You  made  me  want  to  break  it.  You've
made  me  suffer — and  I  can't  love  you  as  I  did
before."

"Can't  you, "

"  No,  you  don't  belong  to  me  as  you  did.  You
were  such  a  beautiful  thing  to  me.  I  care  for
you  more  in  one  way  than  I  did,  now  that  I  real-
ise all  the  strength  of  your  hold  on  me.  I  couldn't
work  to-day  because  you  weren't  in  the  house.  I
want  you  with  me,  all  the  more  perhaps  because


424

you're  not  really  with  me.  But  it  isn't  as  it  was
once.  The  peace  and  sweetness  of  it  is  gone  .  .  ."

He  spoke  almost  dreamily,  as  though  the  whole
thing  were  remote,  objective,  and  he  looked  at
Teresa  as  though  she  were  miles  away.
"  We  shall  get  it  back,"  said  Teresa.
