Whatever I may have been, you loved me, Margret.

Will you say that now ?" "I loved you,--once." Whether it were truth that nerved her, or self-delusion, she was strong now to utter it all.
"You love me no longer, then ?" "I love you no longer." She did not look at him; she was conscious only of the hot fire wearing her eyes, and the vexing click of the clock.

After a while he bent over her silently,--a manly, tender presence.
"When love goes once," he said, "it never returns.

Did you say it was gone, Margret ?" One effort more, and Duty would be satisfied.
"It is gone." In the slow darkness that came to her she covered her face, knowing and hearing nothing.

When she looked up, Holmes was standing by the window, with his face toward the gray fields.