I have never renounced. Even though happiness was not my
share, I have never believed that life was nothing but grayness and
duty. I knew that there are people who are happy."
Silently he kissed her hand.
"I know," she said sadly, "that those who will judge me least harshly
will not envy me the happiness which I shall have in having your love,
but they will also say that I should be satisfied."
"But that would not be enough for me, and you have not the right to
send me away."
"No," she said, "no."
A little later she went upstairs to Elinor.
Elinor slept.
Mrs. Fonss sat down by her bed and looked at her pale child whose
features she could only dimly distinguish under the faint yellow glow
of the night lamp.
For Elinor's sake they would have to wait. In a few days they would
separate from Thorbrogger, go to Nice, and stay there by themselves.
During the winter she would live only that Elinor might regain her
health. But to-morrow she would tell the children what had happened
and what was to be expected. However they might receive the news it
was impossible for her to live with them day in, day out, and yet be
almost separated from them by a secret like this. And they would need
time to get used to the idea, because it would mean a separation
between them, whether greater or smaller would depend on the children
themselves. The arrangement of their lives in so far as it concerned
her and him was to be left entirely to them.
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