She now waited for him in that eternal reunion which the marriage union teaches, as perhaps none other can, to realize as a living fact and natural necessity.
But it was different with the earl.

Sometimes, in an agony of bitterness, he caught himself blaming her--Helen--whom her old father never blamed; wondering how much she had found out of her husband's conduct and character; speculating whether it was possible to touch pitch and not be defiled; and whether the wife of Captain Bruce had become in any way different from, and inferior to, innocent Helen Cardross.
Lord Cairnforth had never answered her letter--he could not, without being a complete hypocrite; and she had not written again.

He did not expect it--scarcely wished it--and yet the blank was sore.

More and more he withdrew from all but necessary associations, shutting himself up in the Castle for weeks together--neither reading, nor talking much to any one, but sitting quite still--he always sat quite still--by the fireside in his little chair.

He felt creeping over him that deadness to external things which makes pain itself seem comparatively almost sweet.