"Then you think I am not proud?"
He could see her white features and dark eyes, and he guessed her expression.
"You are not proud for yourself," he answered rather stubbornly. "If you were, you could not do this."
She turned from him again, and looked down at the black water.
"I am prouder than you think," she said. "That does not make it easier."
"In one way, yes. When you have determined to do a thing, you are ashamed to change your mind, no matter what your decision may cost yourself and others."
"Yes, when I am right. At least, I hope I should be ashamed to break down now."
"I wish you would!"
It was a helpless exclamation, and Wimpole knew it, for he was at the end of all argument and hope, and his despair for her rose in his eyes in the dark. He could neither do nor say anything more, and presently when he had left her at the door of her hotel, she would do what she meant to do, to the letter. For the second time on that day he wished that he had acted, instead of speaking, and that he had set out on his journey without warning her. But in the first place he had believed that she would take more time to consider her action; and again, he had a vague sense that it would not have been loyal and fair to oppose her intention without warning her. And now she had utterly defeated him, and upheld her will against him, in spite of all he could do. He loved her the better for her strength, but he despaired the more. He felt that he was going to say good-bye to her, as though she were about to die.
He put out his hand to take hers, and she met it readily. In her haste to come out with her letter she had not even taken the time to put on gloves, and her warm, firm fingers closed upon his thin hand as though they were the stronger.
"I must go," she said. "It is very late."
"Is it?"
"Yes. I want to thank you, for wishing to help me--and for everything.
I know that you would do anything for me, and I like to feel that you would. But there is nothing to be done. Henry will answer my cable, and then I shall go to him."
"It is as though you were dying, and I were saying good-bye to you, Helen."
"That would be easier," she answered, "for you and me."
She pressed his hand with a frank, unaffected pressure, and then withdrew her own. He sighed as he turned from the dark water to cross the quiet street with her. The people who had been walking about had gone home suddenly, as they do in provincial places, and the electric light glared and blinked upon the deserted, macadamized road. There was something unwontedly desolate, even the air, for the sky was cloudy, and a damp wind came up from the lake.
Without a word the two walked to the post office, and as Wimpole saw the irrevocable message dropped into the slit, his heart almost stopped beating. A faint smile that was cruelly sad to see crossed Helen"s white face; a reflexion of the bitter victory she had won over herself against such great odds.
CHAPTER XII
The two walked slowly and silently along the pavement to the hotel, the damp wind following them in fitful gusts and chilling them as they went.
They had no words, for they had said all to each other; each knew that the other was suffering, and both knew that their lives had led them into a path of sadness from which they could not turn back. They walked wearily and unwillingly, side by side, and the way seemed long, and yet too short, as it shortened before them.
At the lighted porch of the hotel they paused, reluctant to part.
"May I see you to-morrow?" asked Wimpole, in a dull voice.
"Yes, I must see you before I go," Helen answered.
In the light of the lamps he saw how pale she was, and how very tired, and she looked at him and knew from his face how he was suffering for her. They joined hands and forgot to part them when their eyes had met.
But they had nothing to say, and they had only to bid each other a good night which meant good-bye to both, though they should meet ever so often again.
The porter of the hotel stood in the doorway a few steps above them and watched them with a sort of stolid interest. The lamplight gleamed upon his gilt b.u.t.tons, and the reflexion of them made Helen aware of his presence. Then he went into the entrance, and there was n.o.body else about. Voices came with broken laughter from the small garden adjacent to the hotel, where there was a cafe, and far away, at the end of the entrance hall, the clerk pored over his books.
Still Wimpole held Helen"s hand.
"It is very hard," he said.
"It is harder than you know," she answered.
For she loved him, though he did not know it, and she felt as well as he did that she was losing him. But because she was Harmon"s wife and meant to stand by her husband, she would not call it love in her heart, though she knew her own secret. She would hardly let herself think that it was much harder for her than for Wimpole, though she knew it.
Temptation is not sin. She had killed her temptations that day, and in their death had almost killed herself.
The sacrifice was perfect and whole-hearted, brave as true faith, and final as death itself.
"Good night," said Wimpole, and his voice broke.
Helen still had strength to speak.
"Neither you nor I shall ever regret this," she answered, but she looked long at him, as though she were not to see him again.
He pressed her hand hard and dropped it. Once more she looked at him and then turned slowly and left him standing there.
The porter of the hotel was facing her on the steps. Neither she nor Wimpole had noticed that he had come back and was waiting for them to part. He held a telegram in his hand, and Helen started slightly as she saw it, for she knew that it must be Harmon"s answer to her word of forgiveness.
"Already!" she exclaimed faintly, as she took it.
She turned back to Wimpole, and met his eyes again, for he had not moved.
"It is Henry"s answer," she said.
She opened the envelope, standing with her back to the light and to the porter. Wimpole breathed hard, and watched her face, and knew that nothing was to be spared to either of them on that day. As she read the words, he thought she swayed a little on her feet, and her eyes opened very wide, and her lips were white. Wimpole watched them and saw how strangely they moved, as if she were trying to speak and could not. He set his teeth, for he believed that even the short message had in it some fresh insult or injury for her.
She reeled visibly, and steadied herself against one of the pillars of the porch, but she was able to hold out the thin sc.r.a.p of paper to Wimpole as he moved forwards to catch her. He read it. It was a cable notice through the telegraph office from Brest.
"Your message number 731 Henry Harmon New York not delivered owing to death of the person addressed."
Wimpole read the words twice before their meaning stunned him. When he knew where he was, his eyes were still on the paper, and he was grasping Helen"s wrist, while she stood stark and straight against the pillar of the porch. She lifted her free hand and pa.s.sed it slowly across her forehead, opening and shutting her eyes as if waking. The porter stared at her from the steps.
"Come," said Wimpole. "Let us go out again. We can"t stay here."
Helen looked at him, only half comprehending. Even in the uncertain light he could see the colour returning to her face, and he felt it in his own. Then her senses came back all at once with her own clear judgment and decision, and the longing to be alone, which he could not understand, as he tried to draw her away with him.
"No, no!" she cried, resisting. "Let me go, please let me go! Please!"
He had already dropped her wrist.
"Come to-morrow," she added quickly.