Be very gentle with her . '' `` You do n't need to tell me that . I 'd rather die than hurt her . I came here full of anger against you -- but I see now you are not to blame . You are suffering too -- your face tells that . All the same , I wish you 'd never set foot in Four Winds . She was n't happy before but she was n't so miserable as she is now . Oh , I know Anthony is at the bottom of it all in some way but I wo n't ask you any more questions since you do n't feel free to answer them . But are you sure that nothing can be done to clear up the trouble ? '' `` Too sure , '' said Alan 's white lips . * * * * * The autumn dragged away . Alan found out how much a man may suffer and yet go on living and working . As for that , his work was all that made life possible for him now and he flung himself into it with feverish energy , growing so thin and hollow-eyed over it that even Elder Trewin remonstrated and suggested a vacation -- a suggestion at which Alan merely smiled . A vacation which would take him away from Lynde 's neighbourhood -- the thought was not to be entertained . He never saw Lynde , for he never went to any part of the shore now ; yet he hungered constantly for the sight of her , the sound of her voice , the glance of her luminous eyes . When he pictured her eating her heart out in the solitude of Four Winds , he clenched his hands in despair . As for the possibility of Harmon 's return , Alan could never face it for a moment . When it thrust its ugly presence into his thoughts , he put it away desperately . The man was dead -- or his fickle fancy had veered elsewhere . Nothing else could explain his absence .
But they could never XXXXX , and the uncertainty would forever stand between him and Lynde like a spectre .
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