re the two things that sustained her during those hours of
sleeplessness in a strange, fearsome house, troubled as she was with
the promise of infinite pain.

That night she loved Perigal more than she had ever done before. It
seemed to her that she was his, body and soul, for ever and ever; that
nothing could ever alter it. When she fell asleep, she did not rest for
long at a stretch. Every now and then, she would awaken with a start,
when, for some minutes, she would listen to the ticking of the American
clock on the mantelpiece. Her mind went back to the vigil she had spent
during Miss Nippett's kit night of life. Then, it had seemed as if the
clock were remorselessly eager to diminish the remaining moments of the
accompanist's allotted span. Now, it appeared to Mavis as if the clock
were equally desirous of cutting short the moments that must elapse
before her child was born.

The next morning, she was awakened soon after eight by the noise of a
tray being banged down just inside the door, when she gathered that
someone had brought her breakfast. This consisted of coarsely cut
bread, daubed with disquieting-looking butter, a boiled shop egg, and a
cup of thin, stewed tea. As Mavis drank the latter, she recollected the
monstrous suggestion which Mrs Gowler had insinuated the previous
evening. The horror of it filled her mind to the exclusion of
everything else. She had quite decided to leave the house as soon as
she could pack her things, when a pang of dull pain troubled her body.
She wondered if this heralded the birth of her baby, which she had not
expected for quite two days, when the pain passed. She got out of bed
and was setting about getting up, when the pain attacked her again, to
leave her as it had done before. She waited in considerable suspense,
as she strove to believe that the pains were of no significance, when
she experienced a further pang, this more insistent than the last. She
washed and dressed with all dispatch. While thus occupied, the pains
again assailed her. When ready, she went downstairs to the kitchen,
followed by Jill, to find the room deserted. She called "Mrs Gowler"
several times without getting any response. Before going to her box to
get some things she wanted, she gave Jill a run in the enclosed space
behind the house. When Mavis presently went upstairs with an armful of
belongings from her box, she heard a voice call from the further side
of a door she was passing:

"Was you wa