She was the first to speak.  
"Jim, we can't ride like this for ever. A good thing if we could! I am over the first sharpness. Don't choose your words. We can't ride on like this."
 
"No, Maud, we can't."
 
"Do you love her?"
 
"Yes."
 
"How did it come about?"
 
"As such things come about."
 
"What do you mean?"
 
"How do such things come about?"
 
"Does she love you?"
 
"No."
 
"What have you said to her? Does she know you care?"
 
"Yes."
 
"Ah, as far as that?"
 
"Since yesterday. Last night I went to end things. Until then not one word had smirched[Pg 234] me or you. I went to say good-bye. She was put before me like a drink. And——"
 
"You were ?"
 
The horses stood with heads, to muzzle. The hours were growing old, and long shadows climbed across the grasses. A wide hat sheltered her from the sun; but he thought she looked tired and worn, and he wondered which lines summer had there and which he had traced. Next he fell to asking himself if sorrow could sharpen eyesight, for he found himself looking past her body upon her good spirit. It would find food for new growth out of this hurt. Two years ago they had knelt together and received an equal gift. What a good housewife she had proved! What a spendthrift he!
 
"The afternoon is nearly gone, Jim. I made a promise to be back by sunset. I don't know what to say. I must go on feeling for a little while and then I shall be able to think. I don't understand a man's love. He can put it off and on like a cloak. He wears a woman's livery for a season to find it shabby after that time and himself in need of a newer one. You have worn mine through two seasons and no doubt I should be duly glad."
 
"Gently."
 
"I am raw still. Too sick and sorry to[Pg 235] stoop about picking up soft words. No, forget what I said. You have made me angry and hurt and scornful, and, if you will have it, jealous; but you have not the art to make me love you any less. Nothing can unteach me what I have learnt through you. You can ne............