She received him with a gentleness which touched him, she let
her hand rest in his, she seemed glad to have him with her. All bars had
been cast down between them, but he knew that she had not given him all,
and she knew it also. But she hoped he did not know, and she dreaded the
hour when he would speak out of his now full heart. He did not yet urge
his affection on her, he was simply devoted, and watchful, and tender,
and delightedly hopeful.
But one night she came tapping at his door. When he opened it, she said:
"Oh come, come! Richard is ill! I have sent for the doctor."
Henceforth she was her old self again, with a transformed spirit, her
motherhood spending itself in a thousand ways. She who was weak bodily
became now much stronger; the light of new vigour came to her eyes; she
and her husband, in the common peril, worked together, thinking little
of themselves, and all of the child. The last stage of the journey to
happiness was being passed, and if it was not obvious to themselves,
the others, Marion and Captain Vidall included, saw it.
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