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stand that one might not get over the man one first loves, even if one loves someone else so much better. He tore me to pieces and made me sick with rage and shame, but I did love him most awfully, and when I saw him again, yesterday, I knew that I still did—can you understand?—And when Clive came in and found me crying, I couldn’t deny it. Why should one change because one is parted? But Clive couldn’t understand. He said he’d half killed you for my sake, because he trusted me, and that he could never forgive himself and that you had every reason to believe what you did—since half of it was true;—and I was in a rage then and said that all of it would be true, unless he were careful.—We said terrible things to each other;—for the first time.’ Hester spoke brokenly, with short, hot sentences. ‘And though we were horribly sorry afterwards and said we didn’t mean it, it’s all there still, in our minds.—For even then—even afterwards—I couldn’t tell him that I didn’t still love Godfrey, too.’

They had reached Oddley Green now. Sad old Mr. Fellows passed them, taking off his hat with a gentle, mournful glance. Hester’s bare head and hot cheeks must strike him as singular. Standing at her cottage gate, a little further on, was Rosemary