Wyndham reined in the involuntary thought, as a man reins in his horse on the brink of a precipice. Common loyalty to the friend he loved, with the unspoken love of half a lifetime, forbade him to look that shrouded possibility frankly in the face. CHAPTER XXXI. THE LOSS OF ALL. "The loss of all love has to give, Save pardon for love wronged." --O. MEREDITH. "Here I am, Theo. Honor says you want to see me." Evelyn Desmond closed the door behind her; and at sight of her husband transformed into his very self--freed at last from all disfigurements--she ran to him with outstretched arms. "Theo, are you really all right again? I can hardly believe it." But Desmond had no answer to give her. He simply squared his right arm, warding off her hands. Then she saw the hard lines of his mouth, the inexpressible pain in his eyes; and, clutching at his rigid forearm, tried to force it down. She might as well have tried to shift a bar of iron. "What's the matter with you now?" she asked, half petulant, half fearful. "Has anything else gone wrong? Haven't we had enough misery and depression----?" "There's no more call for acting, Evelyn," Desmond interposed with an ominous quietness more disconcerting than anger--"Doesn't your own conscience tell you what may have gone wrong?" At that the colour left her face. "You mean--is it about--me?" she asked with shaking lips. "Yes. About you." Her pitiful aspect softened him; he took her arm and set her gently down upon a chair;--the selfsame chair that Paul had occupied half an hour ago. "Don't be frightened," he said gently; "I won't hurt you more than I must. Ever since we married I have done my utmost to help you, spare you, shield you; but now--we've got to arrive at a clear understanding, once for all. First I want you to answer a question or two, straightly, without prevarication. You went out early, it seems. Where?" "To Mrs Riley's----" "And after?" "I met Mr Kresney--quite by chance. He wanted me to come in to tea. He said Miss Kresney would soon be home--and I--I----" "No need for polite fabrications;" he took her up quickly. "You went in. Miss Kresney did _not_ come home. Is this the first time he has trapped you with a convenient lie? Tell me that." Words and tone roused her to a passing flash of retaliation. "If you're going to get so angry, Theo, I won't tell you _any_thing, and I _won't_ be questioned like a creature in a witness-box! Some one's been saying horrid things of me. Major Wyndham, I suppose. You wouldn't listen to any one else. It's very mean of him----"