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An outside lamp came on as she neared the front door. He stepped out to meet her. His stance was erect and forbidding, silhouetted by the yellow light at his back. She could not read his face.
    â€œDr. Avery.” His voice rasped like a saw. “Go away.”
    â€œNo.” The uncertainty of her respiration made her speak abruptly, one piece at a time. “Not until I see her.”
    â€œHer?” he demanded.
    â€œYour ex-wife.”
    For a moment, he was silent. Then he grated, “What else did that bastard tell you?”
    She ignored his anger. “You need help.”
    His shoulders hunched as if he were strangling retorts. “He’s mistaken. I don’t need help. I don’t need you. Go away.”
    â€œNo.” She did not falter. “He’s right. You’re exhausted. Taking care of her alone is wearing you out. I can help.”
    â€œYou can’t,” he whispered, denying her fiercely. “She doesn’t need a doctor. She needs to be left alone.”
    â€œI’ll believe that when I see it.”
    He tensed as if she had moved, tried to get past him. “You’re trespassing. If you don’t go away, I’ll call the Sheriff.”
    The falseness of her position infuriated her. “Goddamn it!” she snapped. “What are you afraid of?”
    â€œYou.” His voice was gravid, cold.
    â€œMe? You don’t even know me.”
    â€œAnd you don’t know me. You don’t know what’s going on here. You couldn’t possibly understand it. And you didn’t choose it.” He brandished words at her like blades. “Berenford got you into this. That old man—” He swallowed, then barked, “You saved him, and he chose you, and you don’t have any idea what that means. You haven’t got the faintest idea what he chose you for. By hell, I’m not going to stand for it!
Go away
.”
    â€œWhat does it have to do with you?” She groped to understand him. “What makes you think it has anything to do with you?”
    â€œBecause I
do
know.”
    â€œKnow what?” She could not tolerate the condescension of his refusal. “What’s so special about you? Leprosy? Do you think being a leper gives you some kind of private claim on loneliness or pain? Don’t be arrogant. There are other people in the world who suffer, and it doesn’t take being a leper to understand them. What’s so goddamn special about you?”
    Her anger stopped him. She could not see his face; but his posture seemed to twist, reconsidering her. After a moment, he said carefully, “Nothing about me. But I’m on the inside of this thing, and you aren’t.I know it. You don’t. It can’t be explained. You don’t understand what you’re doing.”
    â€œThen tell me. Make me understand. So I can make the right choice.”
    â€œDr. Avery.” His voice was sudden and harsh. “Maybe suffering isn’t private. Maybe sickness and harm are in the public domain. But
this
is private.”
    His intensity silenced her. She wrestled with him in her thoughts, and could find no way to take hold of him. He knew more than she did—had endured more, purchased more, learned more. Yet she could not let go. She needed some kind of explanation. The night air was thick and humid, blurring the meaning of the stars. Because she had no other argument, she challenged him with her incomprehension itself. “ ‘Be true,’ ” she articulated, “isn’t the only thing he said.”
    Covenant recoiled. She held herself still until the suspense drove him to ask in a muffled tone, “What else?”
    â€œHe said, ‘Do not fear. You will not fail, however he may assail you.’ ” There she halted, unwilling to say the rest. Covenant’s shoulders began to shake. Grimly she pursued her advantage. “Who was he talking about? You?”
    He