And, then, after a talk with Grover he began to spend more and more time
with her, forcing her to take with him daily, long walks in the open air.
He tried valiantly to keep her mind fixed on cheerful things and went to
bed happy and relieved when a day ended that did not bring a stormy
passage between them.
There were days during that period when Sam thought himself near insanity.
With a light in her grey eyes that was maddening Sue would take up some
minor thing, a remark he had made or a passage he had quoted from some
book, and in a dead, level, complaining tone would talk of it until his
head reeled and his fingers ached from the gripping of his hands to keep
control of himself. After such a day he would steal off by himself and,
walking rapidly, would try through pure physical fatigue to force his mind
to give up the remembrance of the persistent, complaining voice. At times
he would give way to fits of anger and strew impotent oaths along the
silent street, or, in another mood, would mumble and talk to himself,
praying for strength and courage to keep his own head during the ordeal
through which he thought they were passing together. And when he returned
from such a walk and from such a struggle with himself it often occurred
that he would find her waiting in the arm chair before the fire in her
room, her mind clear and her little face wet with the tears of her
repentance.
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