"Ah, but you see that was in my character of a newly-married man," sneered Guy, picking up a handful of sand and letting it stream through his fingers. "All that sort of thing is over." "And why is it over?" asked Eustace, coldly. "Eighteen months can scarcely make so much difference----" "It makes every difference--in my case." "Why?" Guy sat up suddenly, clasped his hands round his knees, and staring at the ocean, answered in a dreary voice utterly devoid of any feeling: "I daresay it will sound ridiculous to a man like yourself, Eustace, and no doubt you and the world will laugh at me when you know my reason. But I cannot help it. I've fought against the feeling, as much as ever I could. I've made all sorts of excuses for my wife, but it's all of no use." "I'm quite in the dark as to what you are talking about." "I'm talking about my wife," said Guy deliberately. "You know how much in love I was with her when we married?" "And are you not in love with her now?" "Yes, I am!" "Then what have you to complain of?" "Complain of!" echoed Errington with a bitter laugh. "I have nothing to complain of, according to the views of the world. Alizon is a perfect wife, a perfect mother, a perfect woman in every way. In fact, that is what I do complain of! She's too perfect." "Good Heavens, man!" cried Eustace, now thoroughly exasperated. "I don't understand a word you are saying. If Alizon is perfect, both as wife and mother, what more do you want?" "I want love," returned Guy, in a low, deep voice, the blood rushing to his face. "I want love and affection. I'm starving for one kind word and I cannot obtain it. It sounds ridiculous, does it not, for a man of my years to whimper about love like a silly schoolboy? But I cannot help it. I married Alizon in order to have a true and loving wife, and I find I am tied to a statue." "But I cannot understand----" "Of course, you can't," cried Errington vehemently, leaping to his feet, "how could you? a cold-blooded man, who can do without love and affection, who doesn't care two straws about any human being, and only adores the phantom creations of his own brain. Great Heaven!" said the unfortunate young man, staring wildly up at the leaden-coloured sky, "if I were only a man like that how happy I should be. But I'm not, I'm only a fellow who wants to be loved by his wife, but even that is denied me. I married Alizon for love. I loved her then, I love her now, and she cares no more for me than she does for yonder ocean." "But surely the child is a bond of union between you?" "The child!" repeated Errington fiercely, "no! the child, which should have drawn us closer together, has put us farther asunder than ever. I longed for a child to succeed me in the estates, and, now I have obtained my desire, I wish it had never been born. I hate the child! It seems horrible, Eustace, but I do. I hate it."