And I have!" Otherwise this seizure must have run its course by now.

It bothered him that he had pledged himself to linger at the farm until Joan was quite herself.

Surely the gods of love and honor would understand that he had foreseen no such troublous dilemma as that which faced him now.
He must take himself in hand.

He must find an undisturbing level of common sense and keep his roving feet upon it.

The need was drastic.
"I'll be back in a month," he told Joan, his lips white with compassion for himself and her, and stared moodily at the blaze of autumn on the hills, knowing he would not return.