Night fell, but sleep fell only for some. Sarah Kretznow tossed in a hell of loneliness. Ah, surely her husband had not forgotten her--surely she would not lie thus till death--that far-off death her strong religious instinct would forbid her hastening! She had gone into the Refuge to save him the constant sight of her helplessness and the cost of her keep. Was she now to be cut off forever from the sight of his strength? The next day he came--by special invitation. His face was sallow, rimmed with swarthy hair; his under lip was sensuous. He hung his head, half veiling the shifty eyes. Sister Margaret ran to tell his wife. Sarah's face sparkled. "Put up the screen!" she murmured, and in its shelter drew her husband's head to her bosom and pressed her lips to his hair. But he, surprised into indiscretion, murmured: "I thought thou wast dying." A beautiful light came into the gray eyes. "Thy heart told thee right, Herzel, my life. I _was_ dying--for a sight of thee." "But the matron wrote to me pressingly," he blurted out. He felt her breast heave convulsively under his face; with her hands she thrust him away. "God's fool that I am--I should have known; to-day is not visiting day. They have compassion on me--they see my sorrows--it is public talk." His pulse seemed to stop. "They have talked to thee of me," he faltered. "I did not ask their pity. But they saw how I suffered--one cannot hide one's heart." "They have no right to talk," he muttered in sulky trepidation. "They have every right," she rejoined sharply. "If thou hadst come to see me even once--why hast thou not?" "I--I--have been travelling in the country with cheap jewellery. The tailoring is so slack." "Look me in the eyes! Law of Moses? No, it is a lie. God shall forgive thee. Why hast thou not come?" "I have told thee." "Tell that to the Sabbath Fire-Woman! Why hast thou not come? Is it so very much to spare me an hour or two a week? If I could go out like some of the patients, I would come to thee. But I have tired thee out utterly--" "No, no, Sarah," he murmured uneasily. "Then why--?" He was covered with shame and confusion. His face was turned away. "I did not like to come," he said desperately. "Why not?" Crimson patches came and went on her white cheeks; her heart beat madly. "Surely thou canst understand!" "Understand what? I speak of green and thou answerest of blue!" "I answer as thou askest." "Thou answerest not at all." "No answer is also an answer," he snarled, driven to bay. "Thou understandest well enough. Thyself saidst it was public talk." "Ah--h--h!" in a stifled shriek of despair. Her intuition divined everything. The shadowy, sinister suggestions she had so long beat back by force of will took form and substance. Her head fell back on the pillow, the eyes closed. He stayed on, bending awkwardly over her. "So sick! So sick! So sick!" moaned the wizened grandmother.