"But I am ashamed, Norah, more ashamed than I can
say. After I got well and went to live with the Galleons a new life seemed
to begin for me and I was so eager and excited about it all. And then--" he
hesitated for a moment--"there was Clare."
"Yes, I know there was Clare and I am so delighted about it--I know that
you will both be so happy.... But, when one is lying here week after week
and is worried and tired things take such a different outline. I thought
that you and Clare--that you ... had given me up altogether and--"
Suddenly hiding her face in her hands she began to cry. It was
inexpressibly desolate there in the dim bare little room, and the sharp
sense of his neglect and the remembrance of the good friend that she had
been to him for so many years overwhelmed Peter.
He knelt down and put his arms round her. "Norah--don't, please, I can't
bear it. It's all right. I've been a beast, a selfish cad. But it shan't
happen again. I'll come often--I'm ashamed."
She cried for a little and then she smiled at him. "I'm a fool to cry like
that but you see I'm weak and ill--and seeing you again after all this time
and your being so successful and happy upset me I suppose. Forgive it,
Peter, and come again one day when I'm better and stronger--and bring Clare
too."
She held tightly to his hand and her grasp was hot and feverish.
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