There was
a chest of drawers before the door; I thought she couldn't move it, and
went back into the sitting-room. But somehow she managed to move it
without my hearing her, and before I could stop her she was down the
stairs like lightning. I went after her, but she had too long a start of
me, and the last I heard was the street door go bang."
The conversation paused. William took the stalk he was chewing from his
teeth, and threw it aside. Esther had picked one, and with it she beat
impatiently among the grass.
"But what has all this to do with me?" she said. "If this is all you have
brought me out to listen to----"
"That's a nice way to round on me. Wasn't it you what asked me to tell you
the story?"
"So you've deserted two women instead of one, that's about the long and
short of it."
"Well, if that's what you think I'd better be off," said William, and he
rose to his feet and stood looking at her. She sat quite still, not daring
to raise her eyes; her heart was throbbing violently. Would he go away and
never come back? Should she answer him indifferently or say nothing? She
chose the latter course. Perhaps it was the wrong one, for her dogged
silence irritated him, and he sat down and begged of her to forgive him.
He would wait for her. Then her heart ceased throbbing, and a cold
numbness came over her hands.
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