The violence of her emotion maddened him. He knew that _he_ loved _her;_ the truth was stripped of the disguise in which he had sought for years to wrap it--he knew that he had never ceased to love her; and a temptation to make her his wife again, to cherish and possess her so long as life should linger in her veins, flooded his reason. Their gaze grew wider, deeper still; he could feel her quivering from head to foot. Another moment, and he would have offered his honour to her keeping afresh. Some men left the smoking-room; there was the sharp interruption of laughter--the slam of the door. They both regained some semblance of self-possession as they moved apart. "I must go down," she said. And he did not beg her to remain. It was their real farewell, for on the morrow they could merely exchange a few words amid the bustle of arrival. Liverpool was reached early in the morning, and when he saw her, she wore a hat and veil and was already prepared to go ashore. In the glare of the sunshine the veil could not conceal that her eyes were red with weeping, however, and he divined that she had passed a sleepless night. To Mrs. Baines he privately repeated his injunctions with regard to the physician, for he was determined to have his way; and the widow assured him that she would write to Morson Drummond for an appointment without loss of time. The delays and shouts came to an end while he was speaking to her; and the gangway was lowered, and Mamie moved forward to her side. He saw them again in the custom-house, but for a minute only, and from a distance. Evidently they got through without trouble, for when he looked across again, they had gone. As he saw that they had gone, a sensation of blankness fell upon Heriot's mood, where he stood waiting among the scattered luggage. His life felt newly empty and the day all at once seemed cold and dark. CHAPTER XIV The truth was stripped of the disguise in which he had sought to wrap it; he knew that he had never ceased to love her. As he had known it while she sobbed beside him on the boat, so he knew it when the Bar claimed him again and he wrestled with temptation amid his work. He might re-marry her! He could not drive this irruptive idea from his mind. It lurked there, impelled attention, dozed, woke, and throbbed in his consciousness persistently. Were he but weak enough to make the choice, the woman that he loved might belong to him once more.