The Argosy — page 56: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

My Saturdays. 43 steps were lost on the grass. Then I heard a sob. The Professor had hidden his face in his hands. His punishment had come upon him, and the coals of fire were very hot upon his head. I could scarcely find it in my heart to pity him. How could he for a moment have distrusted that pure heart, beating close to his own for five years? How could he have received her daily tenderness, and still nourished that whispering snake in his soul? Did he not deserve to have meanly spied upon her, only to learn more of the depths of her devotion ? There was silence, in which I softened, as I thought that it was the very sense of all this which was crushing him now, and that at any rate he had suffered worse pain than he had inflicted. Presently he stood up, and went into the drawing-room, almost staggering, and I heard him sink into a chair. This was my opportunity. In my dread of being discovered, I took off my shoes, and succeeded in slipping out and round the corner of the house without making any noise—though not without hurting my feet horribly. I made a détour and entered the drawing-room by the window, making my steps heard first. . “Why, Professor! You are not well, I am sorry to see.” He looked up with a dazed air. ‘‘No, I am not well, thank you. Oh yes, I am all right now. Where is my wife?” “She is looking for you, I think. But do sit still for the present, or lie down. The heat has been too much for you.” ‘Thank you, I would rather go home, if you will tell me where to find her.” He stood up, but had to steady himself by the arm of the chair. | “‘T will find her for you presently,” I said. The one thing that I was anxious about now was to prevent an outpouring of penitence to Rhoda. She would forgive him anything, but she was too proud and sensitive ever to be able to forget that she had been doubted. _ “QDo sit down here quietly in the cool,” I resumed, “and let me wait to fetch her until you are more yourself. She will be alarmed if she sees you in this state.” “She will not be alarmed; I cannot wait. I must see her: I want to tell her 7 ‘You do not want to tell her anything that will distress her, I hope,” I said severely. He was silent. ! “Khoda is very strong and loving,” I went on, “ but she is very sensitive. Because she can bear pain, you think that she does not feel it. Something has been troubling her for these last three weeks, and I have been grieved to see that it was so.” “Has she been troubled?” he interrupted, eagerly. ‘Have I given her pain?” “Something has given her great pain, Professor Lingard; you best know what. She has not told me.” COMmicoooks (©)