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 that shortsighted intensity; she knew every word of the messages, and with an effort he could almost have read them from her eyes.

"Did he expect to see me?"

"Yes, once he knew that he was ill. He knew that you could not possibly leave India before April, but he kept on—expecting. I wanted to cable to you and he wouldn't let me. But I know he still believed, above all reason, that you'd come."

"If I'd known, if"

"You think I should have cabled without telling him?" She thought he blamed her and she evidently feared his anger. Curious He had been so conscious of her indifference, before; he had been a person who did not matter, the nice friend, the family dog—relegated. It was that that had stung and stung. After all he need never have gone to India, it had been a resource of panic. It had saved him nothing, and there had been no question of saving her. He wondered why she had not cabled; it was nothing to her whether he went or came, and Howard's happiness was everything.