But for the thought of you, dearest, to comfort--" She stepped past him and opened the door.

For a moment a wild notion seized him that she was escaping, and he put out an imploring hand; but he saw that, with her hand on the jamb, she was listening, and he, too, listened.

The voices in the Convalescent Ward came up to them, scarcely muffled, through the low passage, and with them a cackling laugh.

Then he understood.
Their eyes met.

He bowed his head.
"Nevertheless, I have suffered." He said it humbly, after many seconds, and in a voice so low that it seemed a second or two before she heard.