He was deeply hurt that she made no attempt to answer even one of his questions—that she had not once met his glance, but kept her face averted, and even avoided his touch when he would have assisted her in her preparations to go. Still he attributed it to her weakness, her nervousness, her anxiety to get out of the place where she must have suffered so much; and when she had fastened her gloves he drew her hand within his arm and led her from the room, thinking that when she was rested and refreshed she would be his own Salome once more. CHAPTER XLII. EXPLANATIONS. Dr. Winthrop and Salome found their carriage waiting at the main entrance, but Dr. Arnot was not visible; he had not the courage to take leave of her, whom he had so wronged, and she was glad that she was not compelled to bid him farewell. There was a feeling of infinite relief and thankfulness in the heart of both husband and wife, when they turned a corner and the asylum was hidden from their sight. “Where do you want to go, Salome; where shall I take you?” Dr. Winthrop asked after a few moments, not knowing just what was best to do. “Home—to Harriet,” she answered. He was disappointed and wounded, for while he could understand that she would be anxious to relieve Harriet’s anxiety upon her account, and he even wished to do so himself, there was something in the way she uttered the woman’s name that told him she expected to find comfort and support in her presence—a sense of rest and security which she could not realize in his. She was leaning back in the carriage with closed eyes and an unmistakable look of pain on her face—she seemed little like a happy woman who had been almost miraculously restored to a fond husband, after nearly two years of separation, he thought, with some bitterness. The drive was not a long one, and they soon stopped before the modest little house where Salome had made her home since the death of Miss Leonard. Harriet happened to be sitting by a window when they drove up; it needed but a single glance to tell her who was with Dr. Winthrop, and she sprang to the door to meet them, before the young physician could lift his precious charge from the carriage, and the next moment the two women were sobbing in each other’s arms. Dr. Winthrop paid and dismissed his cabman, after which he followed his wife into the house, but it was some time before he could reason either of his companions into anything like composure. Harriet was the first to recover herself, for Salome seemed utterly unnerved. Then she noticed immediately how wretched her young mistress appeared. She had been quick to observe and understand, too, that the relations between the young people were of a far tenderer nature than would naturally be expected to exist between a physician and a nun, no matter how much gratitude the former might imagine he owed for faithful nursing.