Page 198 (1/1)

"Well, Chloe, you have discovered the truth at last?"

It was evening again--early evening this ti in Chloe's black-and-white roo for the promised elucidation of the mystery which had so nearly ruined two lives

Chloe herself, sitting in a corner of the chintz-covered couch, looked, in spite of the strenuous hours through which she had passed, the embodiment of youth and radiant happiness

In all his life Anstice had never seen so striking a testimony to the power of soul over body as in this rejuvenation, this new birth, as it were, which had taken place under his eyes

The whole woht austerity of outline, the sapphire-blue eyes were no longer cold and indifferent, but danced bewitchingly in the softly-tinted face The lips whose corners had been prone to droop were now curved into the tenderest, gayest smiles; and as Anstice looked at her he was reidity aric of the sculptor's kiss

And as he gazed, secretly, on this miracle which had been performed before his eyes Anstice realized a truth which hitherto he had not suspected Although herof her husband had never held the faintest tinge of resentment, nor the least hint of rancour, neither had it betrayed any touch of a war than a half-compassionate friendliness; and Anstice had never suspected the world of feeling which apparently lay locked in her heart He had thought her cold, self-contained, genuinely cynical He saw her now, i, this indescribably happy change was due

Chloe Carstairs was in love, overwhelly, irresistibly in love with her husband; and now Anstice was able to gauge so of the bitterness of the life she had led for the last few ht her cold she had been indeed suffering Her assumed cynicism, her weary indifference had been the cloak of a sharp and alht of her heroic acceptance of her husband's unbelief, an unbelief which , Anstice paid her in his heart a higher tribute than he had hitherto bestowed on any woman

That the cloud of which Major Carstairs had spoken had indeed lifted was evident in the glances which passed shyly between the two; and as Chloe answered her husband's eager question her blue eyes rested almost tenderly on his face

"Yes I think the truth has coht at last"