Page:Fletcher--Where Highways Cross.djvu/193



he came to the point where the bye-way turned down through the woods to his farmstead, Hepworth let the reins drop on his horse's back and began to think. Verrell's admission had acted upon him like a sudden douche of ice-cold water. He was himself again, and felt prepared to think and act after his ordinary level-headed fashion. The sorrow that had come to him was still with him, but it no longer bore him down with a fierce regret that was half-madness. He now felt that it must be grappled with and conquered for Elisabeth's sake. So far he had thought only of himself; since Verrell's admission of his guilt he had begun to think for the woman he loved.