After all, it was not fear of Quade or of what he might attempt that filled him with uneasiness.

It was Joanne herself, her strange quest, its final outcome.
With the thought that she was seeking for the man who was her husband, a leaden hand seemed gripping at his heart.

He tried to shake it off, but it was like a sickness.

To believe that she had been the wife of another man or that she could ever belong to any other man than himself seemed like shutting his eyes forever to the sun.

And yet she had told him.