"Hush!" Clara interrupted him on the verge of his precious revelation. They heard footsteps. Was it the dark night and the rough road that caused their loud unevenness? "I think you'd better go to bed now," she said quietly. "Good-night." "Good-night," he said, and went up the unlighted stairs. As he reached the landing a bedroom door was opened, and Alexander showed himself in his nightshirt. "Is he back?" he asked. "He has just come. I think," he whispered--"I think your mother wished us to be quiet." "Hush!" said Alexander, "he'll hear nothing," and he banged his door. Downstairs a key was turned in a lock, and the ashes were raked together in the grate. A few indistinguishable words floated up, and after a long pause there came the violent creaking of the stairs. It was a long time before Edward Webb could sleep. CHAPTER III Clara outwatched him. She lay in the extraordinary stillness to which she had trained herself, with patiently closed eyes and an untroubled brow, but there was the pain of controlled weeping in her throat. She had taught herself to keep her mind clear of regrets, of anger and scorn, that there might always be room for the flooding brightness of her love, but she had not yet learnt to keep back that hard, constricting hurt that stretched across her throat from ear to ear, and made a raw place in her breast. At her side Rutherford turned, tossed, and ejaculated between his snatches of sleep. "Oh, damn the drink! Clara." "Yes?" "Did I wake you?" "No." She smiled at the ceiling. "I can't sleep." "You've been to sleep, Jim." "I tell you I haven't. Clara, are you angry with me? Look here, I hadn't been there for a month, you know I hadn't." "Yes, I know." "And I've told you how it comes on me." "Go to sleep, Jim." "I can't. Thoughts come crowding like black imps. If you'll forgive me----" "Oh yes, I'll forgive; how many times does the Bible say? Let me put my arm round you. There." In the dark room the pillars at the foot of the uncurtained four-poster bed seemed to watch and listen. "Did that chap know where I'd gone?" "I didn't tell him, but he may have guessed. Very likely, I should think." "Couldn't you have----" "No, I couldn't, Jim. If you're going to be proud you must have reason for it. You can tell your own lies, or act a truth you're not ashamed of." He flung himself out of reach of her arm. "Oh, why can I not have peace? Preaching at me when my nerves are in this state!" "Did you go to Janet's?" "No, I didn't. Clara!" She made no answer. "Clara!" "Well?" "I'm wretched. I'm afraid of falling out of bed. Why should I feel like this? It makes other people sleepy." She laughed aloud. "Oh, Jim, Jim, Jim!" "For God's sake, don't make that noise. It's not canny in the night. What are you laughing at?" "At you, my dear. Oh me!" "Will you put your arm round me again? What a devil I've been to you. Don't desert me. I'll start again if you'll help me."