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I wound wool in silence, listening to the crackle of the fire Ian was coughing again, but didn’t wake The dog had s, a dark heap of fur

I finished the second ball of yarn and began another OneIf Ian didn’t need me yet, I would lie down then

Grey had been silent for so long that I was surprised when he started to speak again When I glanced at hi visions once again as for my wife," he said softly "I did Affection Familiarity Loyalty We had known each other all her life; our fathers had been friends; I had known her brother She ht well have been my sister"

"And was she satisfied with that--to be your sister?"

He gave er and interest

"You cannot be at all a comfortable woman to live with" He shut his ed impatiently "Yes, I believe she was satisfied with the life she led She never said that she was not"

I didn’t reply to this, though I exhaled rather strongly through ed uncomfortably, and scratched his collarbone

"I was an adequate husband to her," he said defensively "That we had no children of our own--that was not my--"

"I really don’t want to hear about it!"

"Oh, don’t you?" His voice was still low, not to wake Ian, but it had lost the sh in it

"You asked me why I came; you questioned my motives; you accused me of jealousy Perhaps you don’t want to know, because if you did, you could not keep thinking of me as you choose to"

"And how the hell do you knohat I choose to think of you?"

His ht have been a sneer on a less handsome face

"Don’t I?"

I looked hi to hide anything at all

"You did mention jealousy," he said quietly, after a moment

"So I did So did you"

He turned his head away, but continued after ato h we had not seen each other for nearly two years We shared a bed; we shared a life, I thought I should have cared But I didn’t"

He took a deep breath; I saw the bedclothes stir as he settled hienerosity It wasn’t that I came to see…whether I can still feel," he said His head was still turned away, staring at the hide-covered , grown dark with the night "Whether it is s that have died, or only Isobel"

"Only Isobel?" I echoed

He lay quite still for aaway

"I can still feel shame, at least," he said, very softly

I could tell by the feel of the night that it was very late; the fire had burned low, and the aching of my etting restless; he stirred in his sleep,sain, plu murmurs He was no more than half awake; I held his head and fed him a cup of the war" There were spots visible in the open neck of his shirt--only a few as yet--but the fever was less, and the line between his brows had eased

I wiped his face once more and eased him back on his pillohere he turned a cheek to the cool linen and fell asleep again at once

There was plenty of the infusion left I poured another cup and held it out to Lord John Surprised, he sat upright and took it from me

"And now that you’ve cos?" I said

He stared at ht

"I do, yes" Hand steady as a rock, he picked up the cup and drank "God help me," he added, so casual as alht but dropped off into a fitful doze near dawn I seized the chance of a little rest ed a few hours of delectable sleep on the floor before being roused by the the loud braying of Clarence the hted by the approach of anything he regarded as a friend--this category eue to his joy in a voice that rang off the ed in the watchdog departh the open , baying like a olf