i do oh sue said he with a sudden sense of his own danger do not do an thing for moral reasons you have been my social salvation stay with me for humanity s sake you know what a weak fellow i am my two arch enemies you my weakness for women and my impulse to strong liquor don t abandon me to them sue to save your own soul only at again they have been kept entirely at a distance since you became my guardian angel since i have had you i have been able to go into any temptations of the sort without risk isn t my safety worth a little sacrifice of principle i am in terror lest if you leave me it will be with me another case of the pig that was washed turning back to his in the mire sue burst out weeping oh but you must not you won t ill pray for you night and day well never mind don t grieve said generously i did suffer god knows about you at that time and now i suffer again but perhaps not so much as you the woman mostly gets the worst of it in the she does unless she is absolutely worthless and contemptible and this one is not that anyhow sue drew a nervous breath or two she is � i fear now � good night � please i mustn t stay not just once more as it has been so many times oh sue my wife why not no � no � not wife i am in your hands don t tempt me back now i have advanced so far very well i do your bidding i owe that to you darling in penance for how i it at the first time my god how selfish i was perhaps � perhaps i spoiled one of the highest and purest loves that ever existed between man and woman then let the veil of our temple be rent in two from this hour he went to the bed removed one of the pair of pillows and flung it to the floor sue looked at him and bending over the bed rail wept silently you don t see that it is a matter of conscience with me and not of dislike to you she murmured dislike to you but i can t say any more � it breaks my heart � it will be all i have begun � good night the obscure good night he said and turned to go oh but you shall kiss me said she starting up i can t � bear � he clasped her and kissed her weeping face as he had scarcely ever done before and they remained in silence till she said good bye good bye and then him away she got free trying to the sadness by saying we ll be dear friends just the same won t we and we ll see each other sometimes � yes and forget all this and try to be as we were long ago did not permit himself to speak but turned and descended the stairs iv the man whom sue in her mental face was now regarding as her inseparable husband lived still at on the day before the tragedy of the children had seen both her and as they stood in the rain at watching the procession to the theatre but he had said nothing of it at the moment to his companion who being an old friend was staying with him at the village and had indeed suggested the day s trip to what are you thinking of said as they went home the university degree you never obtained no no said of somebody i saw to day in a moment he added i saw her too you said nothing i didn t wish to draw your attention to her but as you did see her you should have said how d ye do my dear that was ah well i might have but what do you think of this i have good reason for supposing that she was innocent when i her � that i was all wrong yes indeed awkward isn t it she has taken care to set you right since anyhow apparently h m that s a cheap sneer i ought to have waited unquestionably at the end of the week when had gone the obscure back to his school near as was his custom went to market again on s intelligence as he walked down the long hill which he had known before knew it though his history had not beaten so intensely upon its incline arrived in the town he bought his usual weekly local paper and when he had sat down in an inn to refresh himself for the five miles walk back he pulled the paper from his pocket and read a while the account of the strange suicide of a stone s children met his eye as he was it impressed him painfully and puzzled him not a little for he could not understand the age of the elder child being what it was stated to be however there was no doubt that the newspaper report was in some way true their cup of sorrow is now full he said and thought and thought of sue and what she had gained by leaving him having made her home at and the school master coming to market there every saturday it was not wonderful that in a few weeks they met again � the precise time being just after her return from where she had stayed much longer than she had at first intended keeping an interested eye on though had seen no more of her was on his way homeward when he encountered and she was approaching the town you like walking out this way mrs he said i ve just begun to again 