What was his loss, his agony, compared to theirs?
When he softly returned into the room he found Marie lying as though asleep upon, her husband's arm.

It seemed to him that since he had left her there had been a change.

The face was more drawn, the look of exhaustion more defined.

Paul sat beside her, his eyes riveted upon her.
He scarcely seemed to notice his brother-in-law's entrance; it was as though he were rapidly losing consciousness of every fact but one; and never had Kendal seen any countenance so grief-stricken, so pinched with longing.

But Marie heard the familiar step.