turned. 

 ‘I don’t think, you know, an old friend does him any wrong; but last night I had no real oppor—’ He firmly adjusted his spectacles, and looked long into the dark, dispassioned face. 

 ‘H’m!’ he said, and fidgeted, and peered again. Mrs Lawford watched him keenly. 

 ‘Do you still—’ she began. 

 But at the same moment he too broke silence, suddenly stepping back with the innocent remark, ‘Has he—has he asked for anything?’ 

 ‘Only for Quain.’ 

 ‘“Quain”?’ 

 ‘The medical Dictionary.’ 

 ‘Oh, yes; bless me; of course.... A calm, complete sleep of utter prostration—utter nervous prostration. And can one wonder? Poor fellow, poor fellow!’ He walked to the window and peered between the blinds. ‘Sparrows, sunshine—yes, and here’s the postman,’ he said, as if to himself. Then he turned sharply round, with mind made up. 

 ‘Now, do you leave me here,’ he said. ‘Take half an hour’s quiet rest. He will be glad of a dull old fellow like me when he wakes. And as for my pretty bride, if I miss the train, she must wait till the next. Good discipline, my dear. Oh, dear me! I don’t change. What a precious experience now this would have been for a tottery, talkative, owlish old parochial creature like me. But there, there. Light words make heavy hearts, I see. I shall be quite comfortable. No, no, I breakfasted at home. There’s hat and umbrella; at 9.3 I can fly.’ 

 Mrs Lawford thanked him mutely. He smilingly but firmly bowed her out and closed the door. 

 But eyes and brain had been very busy. He had looked at the gutted candle; at the tinted bland portrait on the dressing-table; at the chair drawn-up; at the boots; and now again he turned almost with a groan towards the sleeper. Then he took out an envelope, on which he had jotted various memoranda, and waited awhile. Minutes passed and at last the sleeper faintly stirred, muttering. 

 Mr Bethany stooped quickly. ‘What is it, what is it?’ he whispered. 

 Lawford sighed. ‘I was only dreaming, Sheila,’ he said, and softly, peacefully opened his eyes. ‘I dreamed I was in the—’ His lids narrowed, his dark eyes fixed themselves on the anxious spectacled face bending over him. 

 Prev. P 30/188 next