"It does not mean only a disappointment to me--a lifelong disappointment, the overthrow of everything that I have been waiting for," he began slowly. "It means the shipwreck of three lives. If you don’t care for Drummond how can you be a good wife to him or make him happy?" "There are many women who are married to men they do not care very much for. I have seen them, and they seem to get along," was all she said. "What other women might do with impunity you couldn’t. You are the soul of truth, and, moreover, you cannot hide what you think and feel. If you could have done it better, dear woman, life might perhaps have been a little less hard for you." "But after a while," she said in a low voice, "it might be possible. I should try very hard. And, after all, it is not happiness we are here for. One has only to look around to see how very little of it there is in this world." "By heaven, Isla, I can’t accept that--no, I can’t! God means us to be happy. It is what He has created us for. Only we do wrong things. It is we who make the shipwreck, and I believe that if you go on with this marriage you will ruin three lives." She only shook her head. "Is Drummond the man--do you think?--to be contented with what you purpose to give him--wifely duty, without wifely love?" "He is very good," she said wearily. "His kindness and his patience never fail." "That may be true. But afterwards would come the crucial test. You can’t do it, Isla--you can’t! There is--there must be a way out, and we must find it together. Will you leave it to me?" "I’ll leave everything! I am so tired! I can do nothing more. But I will be true to Neil Drummond. I may tell him, but I will keep my promise if he holds me to it, and if you will let me go now I will say good night. It is nearly ten o’clock. I have been travelling for two days, and I feel as if I could not bear any more." He instantly forgot his own sore disappointment and was concerned only for her with that great and tender concern which belongs to the strong and which the tired woman felt so perilously sweet. "Just a moment; what about to-morrow? Can’t you wait until Friday? If I could get away I would travel with you to-morrow, but it is impossible to do so without giving offence in quarters where it is important not to give offence. Will you wait till Friday? You are not fit to travel alone." She looked up at him, and her eyes wavered. "I should like to, but I can’t stay here. Let us meet in the morning and decide. At least, I need not travel until the two o’clock train." He suffered her to go then, merely touching her hand at parting, because of the barrier that was between. Rosmead had boasted that difficulties in his way existed only for the purpose of being demolished, but he was now in front of one that taxed his boasted powers.