Tears rushed to his eyes, but he could not weep.
Dry-eyed he reached his room and threw himself upon his bed. Thus he
lay--uncomforted and alone.
XXVIII
Terrible as was his loneliness, a meeting with Jack would have been more
terrible. And, after all, it was true, a gulf had opened between them.
Ethel alone could bring solace to his soul. There was a great void in
his heart which only she could fill. He hungered for the touch of her
hand. He longed for her presence strongly, as a wanton lusts for
pleasure and as sad men crave death.
Noiselessly he stole to the door so as not to arouse the attention of
the other two men, whose every whisper pierced his heart like a dagger.
When he came to Ethel's home, he found that she had gone out for a
breath of air. The servant ushered him into the parlor, and there he
waited, waited, waited for her.
Greatly calmed by his walk, he turned the details of Clarke's
conversation over in his mind, and the conviction grew upon him that
the friend of his boyhood was not to blame for his course of action.
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