sed upon her
will, she went back into the room, and stood there with her face towards
the cupboard. Quietly, as if on tiptoe, she passed in a dream to the
cupboard and unfastened it, and without ever once looking about among
the other contents of the shelf put her hand upon the fatal tin which
she had found while looking for Gaga's cocoa. With this tin in her hand
she hastened back to her room, closing the door as silently as she had
opened it. The tin was quickly laid among her clothes, right in the
corner of her dressing-case, hidden from any prying eye. Then Sally
straightened herself, listened and bent down again to fasten the bag.
Within ten minutes she and Gaga were out of the house, sitting in a taxi
on their way to Victoria Station. Sally pressed herself back in the
corner of the cab, not touching Gaga, so that nobody should see her; and
at the station she was on fire until they were settled in the railway
carriage and the train was slipping gently out from the platform. Then
at last she sighed deeply, as if with relief, and the corners of her
mouth drooped until she looked like a little girl who was going to cry.
The houses became blurred.

xix

Gaga and Sally reached Penterby in a very different mood and a very
different state of health from that which had marked their arrival on
the previous visit. The station, with its confusing platforms and
connecting bridges, was by now familiar to Sally, and she was able to
turn at once to a porter and give him instructions. Whereas before they
had walked the short distance between the station and the hotel they
were now forced to take an open, horse-drawn, cab. It stood waiting when
they reached the small station yard, the horse still nibbling feebly at
dropped oats upon the paving and with its breath blowing them farther
away. The few little cottages near the station were passed in an
instant, and the old-fashioned main street of Penterby, reached after a
short run between a hedge upon one side and a tall wooden paling upon
the other, was about them. Above, the sky was brilliantly blue. In front
the houses rose towards the hill-top as of old. There was peace here, if
Sally could find it. And she could see the bridge, and the ivy-covered
hotel, and the gold-lettered board. She sat as if crushed in her seat in
the cab, staring out at the hotel with an expression of strain and
eagerness. Beside her Gaga, tired by the journey, yawned behind his long
hand, his hat tilte