"There now, and I put it to air in the work-room," muttered Grover, who had stood like what is known as a "stuck pig" during her master's outburst, and who now hurried from the room, divided between laughter and anxiety. "No wonder he's beside himself; but he shouldn't shout like that," she thought. "It's my belief he frightens her, and she won't get well while that goes on. Poor chap!" Meanwhile, Gaunt, swept on by the impulse to do or say something that might please, was floundering worse than ever. "You must have a good coat," he hectored, standing over the sofa. "You can't buy that sort of thing out of a dress-allowance. I will give you one. I'll see that you have what's necessary. You mustn't risk taking a chill----" With a kind of bound she sat up, her hands clenched upon the cushions that supported her. Her expression checked his words in mid-flow. "Stop, stop--you must _stop_!" she cried piercingly, "or I don't know what will happen! You think a woman is a thing you can beat, swear at, insult, and then appease with presents! Didn't I tell you I would have no gifts from you? I'll bear your unkindness, but I won't take your presents! If you could understand--oh, how can I make you understand?" Lifting her hands, she held them before her, glaring upon them as if they were contaminated. Fumbling in her vehement haste, she pulled off her wedding-ring and both the others which he had given her, and flung them upon the floor at his feet. "I wear them when I must," she sobbed out; "but at night I tear them off! I shake myself free of them, and then I feel clean--clean at last! I lie down in bed and tell myself that I am just Virgie Mynors again--as I used to be--ill, hungry, penniless--but clean! _Clean!_" As suddenly as she had upreared herself she collapsed, hid her face and lay prone while the sobbing tore her and shook her slight frame. He stood some seconds motionless. Her outburst seemed to have frozen him. Then, in silence, he picked up her rings, laid them on the little table at her side, and walked away into his own room, shutting the door behind him. CHAPTER XVI RENOUNCEMENT "_I must not think of thee; and, tired yet strong, I shun the thought that lurks in all delight-- The thought of thee--and in the blue Heaven's height, And in the sweetest passage of a song._ _Oh, just beyond the fairest thoughts that throng This breast, the thought of thee awaits, hidden yet bright; But it must never, never come in sight; I must go short of thee, the whole day long._" --Alice Meynell. It was upon the following day that Dr. Dymock asked to see Gaunt, and with all the diplomacy that he could muster, begged him to keep away from his wife entirely for a fortnight at least.