Chapter 28: A Door Closes

⁠​​​‌​​​​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​‌⁠Barry returned home comparatively early. Neither Jim’s airy philosophy nor his more serious sympathy, which was not without a salting of worldly wisdom, had lifted the cloud of despondency that had settled upon him. He felt utterly alone. Never, in the loneliest hours he had known in the desert, had he experienced anything quite like his mood of to-night.

He had fallen in love with a shadow—a mirag