Her hand lay on the gate-post as she balanced.

He put his own over it.

His heart beat quickly.
"But did you--were you ever--did you ever give him a chance ?" "Chance?
How ?" "To come near to you." "I married him--and I was willing--" They both strove to keep their voices steady.
"I believe he loves you," he said.
"It looks like it," she replied.
He wanted to take his hand away, and could not.

She saved him by removing her own.

After a silence, he began again: "Did you leave him out of count all along ?" "He left me," she said.
"And I suppose he couldn't MAKE himself mean everything to you ?" "He tried to bully me into it." But the conversation had got them both out of their depth.