Part 42 (1/2)

”I--sorrow--why?” She stared at him wonderingly.

He looked surprised, then understood. Claire listened silently to his brief, sincere sympathy as he told her how her husband had died during the winter of pneumonia.

”It has been nearly six months now,” he finished, ”and, of course, I am very sorry for you. If I can do anything to help you, don't hesitate to call on me, please.”

”Thank you. I--I won't.”

She heard her own voice change. Stifled, she fled up-stairs.

Her grief was sincere, unshaded by any selfish thought that it made her own course easier or more justifiable in the eyes of society. To her, Howard Barkley's death changed nothing save that the man whom she had once loved sincerely was now no more.

But the living remained, and to the call of the living her life was henceforth joyfully dedicated.

(The end.)

[Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the original edition have been corrected.]

In Chapter V, ”tenements she had visted in her charity work” was changed to ”tenements she had visited in her charity work”.

In Chapter VII, a missing quotation mark was added after ”What, indeed, is moral law?”

In Chapter IX, ”disdiscover what she was” was changed to ”discover what she was”.

In Chapter X, ”Disliking him as he did” was changed to ”Disliking him as she did”.

In Chapter XI, ”as abnormal as her depondency had been before” was changed to ”as abnormal as her despondency had been before”.

In Chapter XVIII, ”I promise to an emotionless judge” was changed to ”I promise to be an emotionless judge”, and ”harded and harder to wait” was changed to ”harder and harder to wait”.

In Chapter XX, ”clearly defined discusion” was changed to ”clearly defined discussion”, and ”the overwelming appreciation of beauty in nature” was changed to ”the overwhelming appreciation of beauty in nature”.

[Transcriber's Note: The following summary originally appeared at the beginning of the serial's second installment.]

PRECEDING CHAPTERS BRIEFLY RETOLD

When the City of Panama foundered off the coast of Chile, Lawrence Gordon suddenly realized he had been left, in the frenzy of the disaster, alone on the deck.

Then, before he had fully recovered from the lash of the wind and the violence of the waves, he was swept overboard and into the seething maelstrom of an angry sea.

As he came up from the depths he struck a heavy timber, and with the strength of desperation he dragged his weight up on it and clung fast.

”Land may be in sight,” was his thought, ”and I shall never know!”

Lawrence Gordon was blind.

Hours had pa.s.sed. The wind-lashed water beat him as he lay on the timber. Fear and the cold drove him to rave at life and death alike.