Frank nodded his head in the way that reminded me so of Fay. "I know exactly what you are driving at. When we quarrel with anybody we've got to bury the hatchet before we can be happy or good again: and the original ownership of the hatchet has no effect whatever upon the importance of the funeral." "Precisely so. I'd got to forgive you whether you'd done anything needing forgiveness or not: because I believed you had, and acted according to that belief. Therefore it was imperative upon me to root the bitterness towards you out of my heart: the fact that the bitterness to a great extent was undeserved, did not altogether rob it of its flavour. Well, then, that is the first thing: I want you to know that at last I am at peace with you after nearly three years of hot anger against you: whether you in any way deserved that anger, is your affair not mine." Here Frank's enforced silence broke down. "I didn't deserve it as much as you thought, but I did deserve it a bit. I never tried to set Fay against you: but when I saw she was set against you, I induced her to cut and run, instead of using my influence to make her see things in a different light, and to bring you and her together again. After all is said and done, you were her husband: and when I saw the bond between you was loosening I ought to have helped to tie it tight again instead of undoing it altogether. Let's try to be just all round!" "I am trying to be just," I replied: "and therefore I admit that though I myself was the principal culprit, you were not altogether free from blame." "No, I wasn't. Neither was Fay, when you come to that, though I know you won't let me say so." "Certainly I won't: so don't try it on. Let us pass on to the next thing. And that is that as I have forgiven you, so God has forgiven me, and has restored to me my power of healing." "Oh, Reggie, is that really true? I minded that more than anything!" Frank's voice was hoarse with emotion and his language was confused: but I understood him right enough.