Archer, while he helped her on with her Opera...
Archer, while he helped her on with her Opera cloak, noticed the exchange of a significant smile between the older ladies

As they drove away May laid her hand shyly on his"I'm so sorry you don't feel wellI'm afraid they've been overworking you again at the office

"No—it's not that: do you mind if I open the window?" he returned confusedly, letting down the pane on his sideHe sat staring out into the street, feeling his wife beside him as a silent watchful interrogation, and keeping his eyes steadily fixed on the passing housesAt their door she caught her skirt in the step of the carriage, and fell against him

"Did you hurt yourself?" he asked, steadying her with his arm

"No; but my poor dress—see how I've torn it!" she exclaimedShe bent to gather up a mud-stained breadth, and followed him up the steps into the hallThe servants had not expected them so early, and there was only a glimmer of gas on the upper landing

Archer mounted omega watch orange the stairs, turned up the light, and put a match to the brackets on each side of the library mantelpieceThe curtains were drawn, and the warm friendly aspect of the room smote him like that of a familiar face met during an unavowable errand

He noticed that his wife was very pale, and asked if he should get her some brandy

"Oh, no," she exclaimed with a momentary flush, as she took off her cloak"But hadn't you better go to bed at once?" she added, as he opened a silver box on the table and took out a cigarette

Archer threw down the cigarette and walked to his usual place by the fire

"No; my head is not as bad as that"And there's something I want to say; something important—that I must tell you at once

She had dropped into an armchair, and raised her head as he spoke"Yes, dear?" she rejoined, so gently that he wondered at the lack of wonder with which she received this preamble

"May—" he began, standing a few feet from her chair, prada borse and looking over at her as if the slight distance between them were an unbridgeable abyssThe sound of his voice echoed uncannily through the homelike hush, and he repeated: "There is something I've got to tell you

She sat silent, without a movement or a tremor of her lashesShe was still extremely pale, but her face had a curious tranquillity of expression that seemed drawn from some secret inner source

Archer checked the conventional phrases of self-accusal that were crowding to his lipsHe was determined to put the case baldly, without vain recrimination or excuse

"Madame Olenska—" he said; but at the name his wife raised her hand as if to silence himAs she did so the gaslight struck on the gold of her wedding-ring

"Oh, why should we talk about Ellen tonight?" she asked, with a slight pout of impatience

"Because I ought to have spoken before

Her face remained calm"Is it really worth while, dear? I know I've been unfair to her big black bag at times—perhaps we all haveYou've understood her, no doubt, better than we did: you've always been kind to herBut what does it matter, now it's all over?"

Archer looked at her blanklyCould it be possible that the sense of unreality in which he felt himself imprisoned had communicated itself to his wife?

"All over—what do you mean?" he asked in an indistinct stammer

May still looked at him with transparent eyes"Why—since she's going back to Europe so soon; since Granny approves and understands, and has arranged to make her independent of her husband—"

She broke off, and Archer, grasping the corner of the mantelpiece in one convulsed hand, and steadying himself against it, made a vain effort to extend the same control to his reeling thoughts

"I supposed," he heard his wife's even voice go on, "that you had been kept at the office this evening about the business arrangementsIt was settled this morning, I believe She lowered her eyes devil wears prada chanel necklace under his unseeing stare, and another fugitive flush passed over her face

He understood that his own eyes must be unbearable, and turning away, rested his elbows on the mantel-shelf and covered his faceSomething drummed and clanged furiously in his ears; he could not tell if it were the blood in his veins, or the tick of the clock on the mantel

May sat without moving or speaking while the clock slowly measured out five minutesA lump of coal fell forward in the grate, and hearing her rise to push it back, Archer at length turned and faced her

"It's impossible," he exclaimed

"Impossible—?"

"How do you know—what you've just told me?"

"I saw Ellen yesterday—I told you I'd seen her at Granny's

"It wasn't then that she told you?"

"No; I had a note from her this afternoonDo you want to see it?"

He could not find his voice, and she went out of the room, and came back almost immediately

"I thought you knew," she said fendi big simp