She had no dread of Gretchen, now; even Arthur had ceased to
talk of her, and was as a rule very quiet and contented.
Only her husband troubled her, for with the passing years his silence
and abstraction had increased, until now it was nothing remarkable for
him to go days without speaking to any one unless he were first spoken
to. His hair was white as snow, and made him look years older than he
really was; while the habit he had of always walking with his head down,
and a stoop in his shoulders, added to his apparent years.
During the time Maude was in Europe he grew old very fast, for Maude was
all that made life endurable. To see her in her young beauty, flitting
about the house and grounds like a bright bird, whose nest is high up in
some sheltered spot where the storms never come, was some compensation
for what he had done; but when she was gone there came over him such a
sense of loneliness and desolation that at times he feared lest he
should become crazier than his brother, who really appeared to be
improving, although the strange forgetfulness of past events still clung
to and increased upon him. He did not now remember ever to have said
that Gretchen was with him in the ship or on the train, or that he had
sent the carriage so many times to meet her; and when be spoke of her,
which he seldom did to any one except to Jerrie, it was as of one who
had died years ago.
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