No word of love passed between them; no word, even, that could bear an
affectionate significance, and yet every sentence which passed their
lips carried a message with it, and was as heavy with unuttered
tenderness as a laden bee with honey. For they loved each other
dearly, and deep love is a thing that can hardly be concealed by
lovers from each other.
It was happiness for him merely to sit beside her and hear her speak,
to watch the changes of her face and the lamplight playing upon her
hair, and it was happiness for her to know that he was sitting there
and watching. For the most beautiful aspect of true affection is its
accompanying sense of perfect companionship and rest. It is a sense
which nothing else in this life can give, and, like a lifting cloud,
reveals the white and distant peaks of that unbroken peace which we
cannot hope to win in our stormy journey through the world.
And so the evening wore away till at last they heard the Squire's loud
voice talking to somebody outside. Presently he came in.
"How is he?" asked Harold. "Will he live?"
"They cannot say," was the answer. "But two great doctors have been
telegraphed for from London, and will be down to-morrow."
CHAPTER XXXI
IDA RECANTS
The two great doctors came, and the two great doctors pocketed their
hundred guinea fees and went, but neither the one nor the other, nor
eke the twain, would commit themselves to a fixed opinion as to Edward
Cossey's chances of life or death.
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