SANCTUARY
need n't look farther for your reason: it is simply that you have ceased to love him."
Kate fell back from the door which she had instinctively barricaded.
"Perhaps that is it," she murmured, letting Mrs. Peyton pass.
V
Mr. Orme's returning carriage-wheels crossed Mrs. Peyton's indignant flight; and an hour later Kate, in the bland candlelight of the dinner-hour, sat listening with practised fortitude to her father's comments on the venison.
She had wondered, as she awaited him in the drawing-room, if he would notice
any change in her appearance. It seemed to her that the flagellation of her thoughts must have left visible traces. But Mr. Orme was not a man of subtle perceptions, save where his personal comfort was affected:
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