It was as though he had suddenly stumbled upon a tragedy.
"I have never guessed this about you, Nora," he murmured.
"You are not observant of small things," she answered, a little bitterly.
"Who is the man ?" "That I shall not tell you." "Do I know him ?" "Less, I should say, than any one of your acquaintance." He was silent for a moment or two.

Then it chanced that the telephone rang for him, with a message from the House of Commons.

He gave some instructions to his secretary.
"It is a queer thing," he remarked, as he replaced the receiver, "how far our daily work and our ambitions take us out of our immediate environment.

I see you day by day, Nora, I have known you intimately since your school days--and I never guessed." "You never guessed and I have no time to suffer," she answered.

"So we go on until the breaking time comes, until one part of ourselves conquers and the other loses.