"I hadn't one word from you in weeks.

It quite spoiled my trip East.

What was I to think?
And then you sent me just a line saying you were leaving Mount Hope--" she drew in her breath sharply.

There was a brief silence.
"Why ?" she asked at length.
"It is better that I should," he answered awkwardly.
He felt a sudden remorseful tenderness for her; he wished that she might have divined the change that had come over him; even how worthless a thing his devotion had been, the utter selfishness of it.
"Why is it better ?" she asked.

He was near enough for her to put out a small hand and rest it on his arm.