him, calmly. He dropped
his eyes; then, clumsily he walked off, opened his bedroom door, closed
it behind him, and was gone.

She sat there, staring in front of her, thinking. What was she to do
now? At least she might clear up. She had nowhere to wash the things.
She would put them ready for the morning. She tidied the table, put the
plates and cups together, then, overcome by a sudden exhaustion, she
sat down on the sofa.

She realised then the fight that the day had been. Yes, a fight! ...
and she was still only at the beginning of it. If he really went away
in the morning what could she do? She could not follow him all round
London. But she would not despair yet. No, she was far from despair.
But she was tired, tired to death.

She sat on there in a kind of dream. There were no sounds in the house.
The fire began to drop very low. There were no more coals. The room
began to be very chilly. She laid her head back on the sofa; she was
half asleep. She was dreaming--Paul was there and Grace--the Skeaton
sands--the Revival procession with the lanterns--the swish of the sea...

Suddenly she was wide awake. The lamp had burnt down to a low rim of
light. Martin was coughing in the other room. Coughing! She had never
heard such a cough, something inhuman and strange. She stood up, her
hands clutched. She waited. Then, as it continued, growing fiercer and
fiercer, so that in spite of the closed door it seemed to be in the
very room with her, she could bear it no longer.

She opened the door and went in. The room was lit by a candle placed on
a chair beside the bed. Martin was sitting up, his hands clenched, his
face convulsed. The cough went on--choking, convulsing, as though some
terrible enemy had hands at his windpipe. He grasped the bedclothes,
his eyes, frightened and dilated, staring in front of him.

She went to him. He did not look at her, but whispered in a voice that
seemed to come from miles away:

"Bottle ... over there ... glass."

She saw on the wash-hand stand a bottle with a medicine glass behind
it. She read the directions, poured out the drops, took it over and
gave it to him. He swallowed it down. She put out her arm to steady him
and felt his whole body tremble beneath her hand. Gradually he was
quieter. Utterly exhausted he slipped back, his head on the pillow.

She drew her chair close to the bed. He was too exhausted to speak and
did not look at her at all. After a while she put her hand on