Barney saved Valancy from the train, refusing to leave her and save himself as she begged. Afterwards he is silent and- understandably- shaken, and Valancy can't help but read into that silence, assuming it must be that he is wondering the same thing: how can there be anything seriously wrong with her heart? After they return home, Barney shuts himself away in his locked room where Valancy can hear him feverishly pacing and later when he comes to bed, they both pretend to sleep. This is a sure sign that something is very wrong: the two of them have always been able to talk to each other frankly and honestly... now they're avoiding conversation as though afraid of what might be said. Barney takes this avoidance to the next level the following day by disappearing into the wilderness by himself. Valancy knows what she must do in his absence: go see Dr. Trent.
It is in these chapters that the blissful existence Valancy has been experiencing comes to an abrupt end, and not in the way she assumed it would. She always figured that she would just suddenly drop dead one day- hence the explanatory letter for her family that she's left with Barney. Now, after a terrifying and, one would think, heart-stopping occurrence- nearly getting run down by a train- she's perfectly fine, and that's... not fine. When she asked Barney to marry her, it was with the understanding that the marriage would last for about a year- until her inevitable death from her heart condition. Yet here they are a year later having just survived a hideously frightening experience, something Doctor Trent had assured Valancy would be the death of her, quite literally. She is left wondering if there has been some dreadful mistake, and if she's not dying after all. Under normal circumstances this would be a cause for joyful optimism, but for Valancy this possibility is a travesty. Far more than death, she fears that she may have inadvertently trapped Barney into permanent marriage. She knows that he likes her, but how can that feeling survive if he suspects that she tricked him into a marriage that there may be no escape from. Barney saved Valancy from the train, refusing to leave her and save himself as she begged. Afterwards he is silent and- understandably- shaken, and Valancy can't help but read into that silence, assuming it must be that he is wondering the same thing: how can there be anything seriously wrong with her heart? After they return home, Barney shuts himself away in his locked room where Valancy can hear him feverishly pacing and later when he comes to bed, they both pretend to sleep. This is a sure sign that something is very wrong: the two of them have always been able to talk to each other frankly and honestly... now they're avoiding conversation as though afraid of what might be said. Barney takes this avoidance to the next level the following day by disappearing into the wilderness by himself. Valancy knows what she must do in his absence: go see Dr. Trent. Dr. Trent confirms Valancy's worst fears: there is nothing seriously wrong with her heart. She had a mild heart problem that eventually corrects itself with treatment and healthy living. In his panic over his son's near-fatal car accident, Dr. Trent had addressed two diagnosis letters to two different patients but accidentally put the wrong letters in the wrong envelopes. Trent is filled with horror and remorse over his mistake, but also confused. Instead of looking as if she's spent the last year in fear of her life, Valancy looks so much more healthier and well, different that he didn't recognise her when she first came into his office. He's further confused that she doesn't look the least bit impressed by his news of her good fortune. Rather, she looks devastated and this makes him wonder if her marriage is so bad that she'd rather be dead... and yet, she looks so much better than she did a year ago. As Valancy leaves a guilty and confused Dr. Trent, she is indeed wishing that she could die. All she can think of is that she has trapped Barney into marriage; she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, but he had never signed on to spend the rest of his life with her. Barney's silence and need to escape the house tell her that he is obviously thinking the same thing: the marriage he had agreed to, while not unpleasant, was always supposed to be temporary. Valancy can only suppose that he is wrestling with the idea that this is possibly not the case and that he may be tied down for life. She dreads returning home and confirming this.
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