But he did not enter the cottage He went so far only as half-way up the garden walk.

In the window of the study which opened upon the veranda he saw through frame of honeysuckles the professor and wife standing beside the study table.

They were clinging to each other, the woman weep silently with her cheek on his shoulder, thin, delicate, well-bred hands clasping arms, while the man comforted her awkward unhappily, with hopeless, futile caresses.
Peter, shocked and miserable at what he had seen, backed steadily away.
What disaster had befallen the old couple he could not imagine.

The idea that he himself might in any way connected with their grief never entered mind.

He was certain only that, whatever the trouble was, it was something so intimate and personal that no mere outsider might dare to offer his sympathy.