In vital things the instinct becomes abnormally acute, and, one day, when
the priest looked at her commiseratingly, she had divined what moved him.
However it was, she drove him into a corner with a question to which he
dare not answer yes, but to which he might not answer no, and did not;
and she realised that he knew the truth, and she was the better for his
knowing, though her secret was no longer a secret. She was not aware that
Finden also knew. Then Varley came, bringing a new joy and interest in
her life, and a new suffering also, for she realised that if she were
free, and Varley asked her to marry him, she would consent.
But when he did ask her, she said no with a pang that cut her heart in
two. He had stayed his four months, and it was now six months, and he was
going at last-tomorrow. He had stayed to give her time to learn to say
yes, and to take her back with him to London; and she knew that he would
speak again to-day, and that she must say no again; but she had kept him
from saying the words till now. And the man who had ruined her life and
had poisoned her true spirit was come back broken and battered. He was
hanging between life and death; and now--for he was going
to-morrow--Varley would speak again.
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