VI
A PROFOUND stillness reigned in the Casa GouM. /~ The master of the house, walking along the ridor, opene<l the door of his room, and saw his wife sitting in a big arm-chair his own smoking arm-chair thoughtful, contemplating her little shoes. And sne did not raise her eyes when he walked in. "Tired?" asked Charles Gould. "A little," said Mrs. Gould. Still without looking up, she added with feeling, " There is an awful sense of unreality al>out all this." Charles Gould, l>efore the long table strewn with papers, on which lay a hunting crop and a pair of spurs, stood looking at his wife. "The heat and dust must have been awful this afternoon by the water- si, k-," he murmured sympathetically. "The glare on the water must have been simply terrible." "One could close one's eyes to the glare Mrs. Gould. "But, my dear Charley, it is impossible for me to close my eyes to our position, to this awful She raised her eyes and looked at her husband's face, from which all sign of sympathy or any other feeling had disappeared. "Why don't you tell me something?" she almost wailed. I thought you had understood me perfectly from the first," Charles Gould said, slowly. " I thought we
had said all there was to say a long time ago. There
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