Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/501

Rh what? Of the man who understood her as no one else understood her? The man to whose wisdom and mercy she trusted as the believer trusts in God? This was a kind of abominable nightmare—even Amherst’s image had been distorted in her mind! The only way to clear her brain, to recover the normal sense of things, was to go to him now, at once, to feel his arms about her, to let his kiss dispel her fears.… She rose with a long breath of relief.

She had to cross the length of the room to reach his door, and when she had gone half-way she heard him knock.

“May I come in?”

She was close to the ﬁre-place, and a bright ﬁre burned on the hearth.

“Come in!” she answered; and as she did so, she turned and dropped Wyant’s letter into the ﬁre. Her hand had crushed it into a little ball, and she saw the ﬂames spring up and swallow it before her husband entered.

It was not that she had changed her mind—she still meant to tell him everything. But to hold the letter was like holding a venomous snake—she wanted to exterminate it, to forget that she had ever seen the blotted repulsive characters. And she could not bear to have Amherst’s eyes rest on it, to have him know that any man had dared to write to her in that tone. [ 485 ]