Such affairs as
the one she had witnessed the night before were by no means unusual
in Brennerstadt. Besides, it was a clear case of opium poisoning,
and everyone had known that he would die of it sooner or later. It
was the greatest mercy he had, gone, and so she wasn't to worry
about that! No one would have any regrets for Kieff except the
people he had ruined.
And so with wholesome words of reassurance he left her, and she
went to prepare for her journey.
When Burke joined her again, they spoke only of casual things,
avoiding all mention of Guy or Kieff by tacit consent. He was very
considerate for her, making every possible provision for her
comfort, but his manner was aloof, almost forbidding. There was no
intimacy between them, no confidence, no comradeship.
They reached Ritzen in the late afternoon. Burke suggested
spending the night there, but she urged him to continue the
journey. The heat of the day was over; there was no reason for
lingering. So they found their horses, and started on the long
ride home.
They rode side by side along the dusty track through a barren waste
that made the eyes ache. A heavy stillness hung over the land,
making the loneliness seem more immense. They scarcely spoke at
all, and it came to Sylvia that they were stranger to each other
now than they had been on that day at the very beginning of their
acquaintance when he had first brought her to Blue Hill Farm.
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