Page:The Yellow Book - 04.djvu/71

Rh mind if you are in a bad temper. I love you, dearest. Kiss me, dear, kiss me; I get so frightened now."

A spasm contracted his features; he bent over and kissed her; then he turned away.

"I will go and read," he said; "I shall be better then."

She ran after him. "Let me come too, George. I will sit still and won't disturb you. You can't think how I hate being alone now. I can't understand it. Do let me come, for you know I must go to bed early, I was up so late last night."

The pleading words struck him like a blow. "Come, then," he answered, taking her hand.

"And you may swear if you want to very much," she whispered, laughing, as they passed through the door.

The sun rose bright and clear; the sky, purged of its vapours, shone as fine as on a midsummer day. With this complaisance of the weather Farrell's blacker mood had passed. His weak nature, sensitive as it was to the touch of circumstances, recovered easily from their influences. Sleep had renewed the elastic qualities of his mind, and the smiling heaven set him in great spirits. Letty, too, seemed better, and ate and talked with a more natural gaiety. The nightmare of the previous evening was singularly dim and characterless. He tried to recall the terror of it, and wondered why it had so affected him, with every circumstance of happiness around his smiling wife, a comfortable house, and the pleasant distractions of fortune. The gulf that opened between Letty and himself was there by the will of nature. He had but flung aside the conventions that concealed it. It was a horrid gap, but he had not contrived it. The sexes kept different laws, and he himself, in all likelihood, came nearer to what she would require of him than any other man. He assured himself with conviction that he would forget altogether in a few days. The