So that he was alarmed and annoyed one day to see her crossing the railway tracks and starting off down the very worst of all the forbidden ways. He had happened to go over in that direction himself to see one of the comrades who wanted to build a house. At first he didn’t believe his eyes; it couldn’t be Minnie, in the dusk of a raw October day, deliberately and unnecessarily walking through that wretched quarter of drunken Slavs. But it was surely her hat ...! He hurried after her. She was a long way in advance, and before he had caught her up she had turned off the main road where the wretched hovels were, and entered a little wood. It was quite dark there, under the trees, and very still; there was a faintly marked path, which the workmen sometimes used as a short cut to the brickyards in summer, but quite deserted at this time of the year. A mat of sodden leaves underfoot, and a damp reek of decay. He was really angry at her morbid folly; such a place might well be dangerous. But just as he was on the point of speaking to her, gently, so that she shouldn’t be startled, she rushed up to the dim form of a man who had materialised from the twilight. She kissed him several times. Mr. Petersen was near enough to hear every word, although he could not distinguish the man. It was Minnie’s voice which most astounded him--it was _not_ her voice; it had tones he had never before heard, never imagined; it was gay, tender, full of a beautiful bravery. “My darling boy!” she said, “I’ve only an instant. Is your cold clearing up at all?” “How’s Sandra?” he asked curtly. His voice was hoarse and weak. “Splendid! I’ve brought you a little something to eat, dear. You must do all you can to keep up your strength. For just a little while longer.” “Oh, my God! Minnie!” he groaned, “I wish I were dead! And you too. And Sandra. It’s too much for me----” “Don’t, don’t, my dearest! Just a little while longer. I ought to go now, really.... But I can’t leave you like this. Say one word to comfort me, dear. Tell me you’ll be brave, just a little while longer.” “I am brave,” he answered grimly. “If I weren’t, I shouldn’t be here.” Once more she kissed him. “Good-bye, my dearest!” she said. “Keep up your courage! God bless you! I’ll see you to-morrow as usual. And eat that nice beef, won’t you? You need it so!” She turned away and retraced her steps, through the wood and through the settlement. She was hurrying and breathing painfully, and Mr. Petersen heard a gasping little sob now and then. He was afraid of startling her too much by speaking just then. He waited until she was slowly climbing the hill above the tracks before he came up with her. “Minnie!” he said as gently as possible, “_Who was that?_” She looked at him wildly; her eyes made him think of a terrified horse, and she quivered like one. “Chris!” she cried. “You didn’t----!” And abruptly and mechanically began to scream, shriek after shriek.