The Flaw in the Crystal Part 8

"No. I'm all right. What's the matter with _you_?"

"With me? Nothing. Do I look as if anything was wrong?"

"You look as if you'd been frightened."

He paused, considering it.

"This place isn't good for you. You oughtn't to be here like this, all by yourself."

"Oh! Rodney, it's the dearest place. I love every inch of it. Besides, I'm not altogether by myself."

He did not seem to hear her; and what he said next arose evidently out of his own thoughts.

"I say, are those Powells still here?"

"They've been here all the time."

"Do you see much of them?"

"I see them every day. Sometimes nearly all day."

"That accounts for it."

Again he paused.

"It's my fault, Agatha. I shouldn't have left you to them. I knew."

"What did you know?"

"Well--the state he was in, and the effect it would have on you--that it would have on any one."

"It's all right. He's going. Besides, he isn't in a state any more. He's cured."

"Cured? What's cured him?"

She evaded him.

"He's been well ever since he came; absolutely well after the first day."

"Still, you've been frightened; you've been worrying; you've had some shock or other, or some strain. What is it?"

"Nothing. Only--just the last week--I've been a little frightened about you--when you wouldn't write to me. Why didn't you?"

"Because I couldn't."

"Then you _were_ ill."

"I'm all right. I know what's the matter with me."

"It's Bella?"

He laughed harshly.

"No, it isn't this time. I haven't that excuse."

"Excuse for what?"

"For coming. Bella's all right. Bella's a perfect angel. G.o.d knows what's happened to her. I don't. _I_ haven't had anything to do with it."

"You had. You had everything. You were an angel, too."

"I haven't been much of an angel lately, I can tell you."

"She'll understand. She does understand."

They had sat down on the couch in the corner so that they faced each other. Agatha faced him, but fear was in her eyes.

"It doesn't matter," he said, "whether she understands or not. I don't want to talk about her."

Agatha said nothing, but there was a movement in her face, a white wave of trouble, and the fear fluttered in her eyes. He saw it there.

"You needn't bother about Bella. She's all right. You see, it's not as if she cared."

"Cared?"

"About _me_ much."

"But she does, she does care!"

"I suppose she did once, or she couldn't have married me. But she doesn't now. You see--you may as well know it, Agatha--there's another man."

"Oh, Rodney, no."

"Yes. It's been perfectly all right, you know; but there he is and there he's been for years. She told me. I'm awfully sorry for her."

He paused.

"What beats me is her being so angelic now, when she doesn't care."

"Rodney, she does. It's all over, like an illness. It's you she cares for _now_."

"Think so?"

"I'm sure of it."

"I'm not."

"You will be. You'll see it. You'll see it soon."