Her children ... it was strange how she felt toward them, how little she feared for them. Certainly they were to be shielded, but also they were not to be deceived about the life into which they had been brought. The truth would not hurt them. It was late in September that Moira received the letter from Miles saying that he had left and would not return. The letter was a mixture of unhappy self-accusation, and charges against her for various shortcomings, chief of which appeared to be that she had become self-sufficient and had accepted assistance from others. She thought he might have spared her that, as well as the taunt about her preoccupation with Osprey.... She had expected a parting shot of some kind, yet when it came it was a painful blow, and she spent a week brooding over it and wholly beside herself. During this week Osprey saw nothing of her, and when she came up the hill one evening to join him, he revealed in his eagerness what the deprivation had meant. He led her to a seat, fussed about her comfort and lighted her cigarette. “I’ve been ill,” she said. “I go off and hide when that happens, like an animal. Now I’m well.” “Ill?” he asked, disturbed. He reflected that he should have been less squeamish and forced a visit upon her. He had never done just that. Invitations, dropped at chance meetings or at the end of discussions while they worked had been enough. This time he had gone a little further, approached her door on an impulse twice, but stopped before making his presence known. “But,” he resumed, “Nana didn’t tell me about your being ill. Did she take care of you?” Moira knew what was in his mind. While she had been ill, her husband had not been at home. “Well,” she confessed lightly, “ill is not strictly true. I’ve been just out of sorts. I had some news, but it doesn’t matter.” “Good. I’m glad you’re feeling better. Particularly, as Nana tells me, you’re expecting a guest to-morrow.” “Yes, an old friend, a Mr. Blaydon. An old schoolmate, really, who has been very kind to us.” “I wonder if you wouldn’t bring him and Mr. Harlindew to dinner to-morrow night? I shall be delighted to have you all; and as for Nana, she suggested it herself.” Miles had always been included in Osprey’s formal invitations, whether present or not, and had, in fact, attended once and contributed not unpleasantly to the evening. “I’m afraid I can’t promise for my husband,” said Moira slowly. “H’m. That’s too bad. But I can count on you and your friend, Mr. Blaydon, anyway?” “I should love to bring him,” she replied and paused.... It was better, she thought, to have matters understood.... “My husband ... won’t come back here,” she went on. “He has left me.” “It was that,” he asked kindly, “the news you had?” “Yes, he wrote me a letter.” Osprey spoke quietly but she was conscious of the emotion in his voice. “And you will accept that? You will not seek him, try to bring him back?”