moreover, that that body had already, in
the division of to-day from yesterday, lost much of its haunting power.
In the clean freshness of the day, in the comfort of the casual
voices of the two women in the other room, in the smell of the coffee,
yesterday's melodrama seemed incredible. It had never happened; soon he
would see from his window Carfax's hulking body cross the court. No,
it was real enough, only it did not concern him. He watched it, as a
spectator, indifferent, callous. There _was_ a change in his life, but
it was a change of another kind. In the strange consciousness that he
now had of some vast and vital Presence, the temporal fact of the thing
that he had done lost all importance. There was something that he had
got to find, to discover. If--and the possibility seemed large now in
the air of this brilliant morning--he were, after all, to escape,
he would not rest until he had made his discovery. Some new life was
stirring within him. He wanted now to fling himself amongst men; he
would play football, he would take his place in the college, he would
test everything--leave no stone unturned. No longer a cynical observer,
he would be an adventurer . . . if they would let him alone.

He got out of bed, stripped, and stood over his bath. The cold air beat
upon his skin; he rejoiced in the sense of his fitness, in the movement
of his muscles, in the splendid condition of his body. If this were to
be the last day of his freedom, it should at any rate be a splendid day.

He had his bath, flung on a shirt and trousers and went into his
sitting-room, bright now with the morning sun, so that the blue bowls
and the red tiles shone, and even the dark face of Aegidius was lighted
with the gleam.

Mrs. Ridge was short and stout, with white hair, a black bonnet, and the
deepest of voices. Her eagerness to deliver herself of all the things
that she wanted to say prevented full-stops and commas from being of any
use to her. Miss Annett was admirably suited as a companion, being long,
thin and silent, and intended by nature to be subservient to the more
masterful of her sex. With any man she was able easily to hold her own;
with Mrs. Ridge she was bending, bowed, humility.

Mrs. Ridge grinned like a dog at the appearance of Olva. "Good mornin',
sir, and a nice frosty cold sort o' day it is with Miss Annett just
breakin' one of your cups, sir, 'er 'ands bein' that cold and a cup
bein' an easy thing to slip out of the