He could imagine an unpermitted bond between them, with the necessary end in Thyrza's sacrifice to the world's injustice; but their marriage appeared to him among the things so unlikely as to be in practice impossible.

Of course the wish was father to the thought.

But he reasoned upon the hope which would not abandon him.

Thyrza had again and again proved the extreme sensitiveness of her nature; she could not bear to inflict pain.

He remembered how she had once come back after saying good-night, because it seemed to her that she had spoken with insufficient kindness.