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 ahead, no weighing of possibilities nor probabilities. And now the iridescent bubble, blown in the sunlight, had vanished.

He strove to imagine what life was going to be without her. Of course, ultimately he would cease caring; human nature was like that; but even then, he fancied, he would always feel that he had been cheated out of something rightfully his. And until the time to cease caring came he was going to care very much. Already things were changed, he thought, wonderingly; the sunlight had faded; the blue sky no longer looked its best; the vines and bushes along the road were dusty and bedraggled like a sloven's skirt; the breeze held a chill.

If only she had left him a ray of hope, no matter how dim. Had she