After he
had fallen asleep, Helena still sat beside him in the darkness, her
absent eyes fixed on the little warm body, where, the sheets kicked
off, he sprawled in a sort of spread-eagle over the bed. It was very
hot, and she would have been more comfortable on the porch, but she
could not leave the child. When she was with David, the sense of
aching apprehension dulled into the comfort of loving. After a while,
with a long sigh she rose, but stopped to draw the sheet over his
shoulders; then smiled to see how quickly he kicked it off. She pulled
it up again as far as his knees, and to this he resigned himself with
a despairing grunt.
There was a lamp burning dimly in the hall; as she passed she took it
up and went slowly down-stairs. Away from David, her thoughts fell at
once into the groove of the past weeks. Each hour she had tormented
herself by some new question, and now she was wondering what she
should do if, when Lloyd came to fulfill his promise, she should see a
shade, oh, even the faintest hint, of hesitation in his manner. Well;
she would meet it! She threw her head up, and came down with a quicker
step, carrying the lamp high, like a torch. But as she lifted her
eyes, in that gust of pride, young Sam Wright stood panting in the
doorway. As his strangled voice fell on her ear, she knew that he
knew.
"I have--come--"
Without a word she put the lamp down on the table at the foot of the
stairs, and looked at him standing there with the darkness of the
night behind him.
Pages:
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246