" She
made as though to take the letter from him, but with a sudden twist he
tore open the envelope. The bank-notes fell to the floor as he took out
the sheet inside. Wondering, he stooped to pick them up.
"Four thousand pounds!" he exclaimed, examining them. "What does it
mean?"
"Read," she commanded.
He devoured the letter. His eyes swam; then there rushed into them the
flame which always made them illumine his mediaeval face like the light
from "the burning bush." He did not question or doubt, because he saw
what he wished to see, which is the way of man. It all looked perfectly
natural and convincing to him.
"Mona--Mona--heaven above and all the gods of hell and Hellas, what
a fool, what a fool I've been!" he exclaimed. "Mona--Mona, can you
forgive your idiot husband? I didn't read this letter because I thought
it was going to slash me on the raw--on the raw flesh of my own
lacerating. I simply couldn't bear to read what your brother said was
in the letter. Yet I couldn't destroy it, either. It was you. I had
to keep it. Mona, am I too big a fool to be your husband?"
He held out his arms with a passionate exclamation. "I asked you to kiss
me yesterday, and you wouldn't," she protested.
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