ETHEL held the door open, after Barney had gone, until he had passed the corner and turned; and then, for many minutes, she could not leave the room where they had been. But at last a servant, timidly making the rounds to see to the lights, reminded her of the hour, and she went to her room and undressed; and there, in her nightdress, she sat upon her bed, part of the time gazing at his picture on the bed beside her, part of the time leaning back, clasping her knees, with eyes half closed, re-feeling his arms about her, his lips on hers, her body crushed to his breast.
Only in the fleeting, inconsequential interruptions, which she quickly ended, did thought of her cousin and of her grandfather come to her. Yet at that hour, her grandfather was also still awake and concerned most intensely with menaces for her.
For Bennet, having gone directly home from Scott Street, had found his father and mother out and his grandmother in bed, but his grandfather was still up and reading.
"Well?" Lucas demanded, thrusting his fingers through his thick hair, as he looked up when Bennet entered. "Where have you been this fine evening?"
Lucas knew perfectly well; for by that time he had received a report from his dependable operative; but
