Page:Dark Hester.djvu/262

as she moved into the middle of the room and looked about her for the second and the last time. The bright landscapes still hung on the wall; on the mantelpiece stood the uncouth stone animals, like those on Hester’s mantelpiece. The clock still ticked with security; yet all wore a dismantled air, and the old square leather box, yawning there on the floor, expressed its owner as the room had never done. He was on the march again;—no, not on the march; that was too disciplined a simile:—on the prowl. The wilderness was again to receive him. He pulled a chair for her before the fire and she sank down in it and leant back her head, closing her eyes. Absurd, beautiful; yes; but she knew that as she thought of all it meant of loss her heart was almost breaking.

‘Hester told me you are going early in the morning, so I felt I had to see you.—I hopeI have not seemed too horrible to you,” she said, keeping her eyes closed.

He stood across the room by the table. ‘Horrible? No. Why?’ She heard that he stooped and began gathering up the fallen papers. He gathered them up in crackling layers and dumped them down on the table.

‘I have seemed horrible to myself’ said Monica.