Page:Keeping the Peace.pdf/250

 Certain flowers, it is true, go to seeds and die, and some argue that in these cases undoubtedly the death is the punishment of the sin. Others, however, point questioningly to the high Sierras where the sequoia trees have been honeymooning for thousands of years.

Edward did not want to know anything about Anne's past. He closed the eyes and ears of his mind to it. He knew that she loved him with all her heart, and that was enough knowledge. And he believed that toward him at least she would never show any failure of tenderness and understanding. He did not realize that when a woman has given herself, even if it is not for the first time, her curious sense of justice makes her feel that in return she is entitled to everything in sight, including the moon.

A letter came from Alice and was the first cause of trouble between them. It was in English of course and Anne couldn't read it. Edward translated and Anne made it sufficiently obvious that she did not believe his translation to be quite literal. It was. There was nothing in Alice's letter which anybody might not have been allowed to read. It was a friendly letter and reminded him of his promise to join the Ruggles family in Corsica. The time was about ripe for that. The