on the door mingled with the other sounds that reached his ears. It
was so faint at first that the outer noises were almost sufficient to
drown it. Finding it repeated Knight crossed the lobby, crowded with
books and rubbish, and opened the door.

A woman, closely muffled up, but visibly of fragile build, was standing
on the landing under the gaslight. She sprang forward, flung her arms
round Knight's neck, and uttered a low cry--

'O Harry, Harry, you are killing me! I could not help coming. Don't send
me away--don't! Forgive your Elfride for coming--I love you so!'

Knight's agitation and astonishment mastered him for a few moments.

'Elfride!' he cried, 'what does this mean? What have you done?'

'Do not hurt me and punish me--Oh, do not! I couldn't help coming; it
was killing me. Last night, when you did not come back, I could not bear
it--I could not! Only let me be with you, and see your face, Harry; I
don't ask for more.'

Her eyelids were hot, heavy, and thick with excessive weeping, and
the delicate rose-red of her cheeks was disfigured and inflamed by the
constant chafing of the handkerchief in wiping her many tears.

'Who is with you? Have you come alone?' he hurriedly inquired.

'Yes. When you did not come last night, I sat up hoping you would
come--and the night was all agony--and I waited on and on, and you did
not come! Then when it was morning, and your letter said you were gone,
I could not endure it; and I ran away from them to St. Launce's, and
came by the train. And I have been all day travelling to you, and you
won't make me go away again, will you, Harry, because I shall always
love you till I die?'

'Yet it is wrong for you to stay. O Elfride! what have you committed
yourself to? It is ruin to your good name to run to me like this!
Has not your first experience been sufficient to keep you from these
things?'

'My name! Harry, I shall soon die, and what good will my name be to me
then? Oh, could I but be the man and you the woman, I would not leave
you for such a little fault as mine! Do not think it was so vile a thing
in me to run away with him. Ah, how I wish you could have run away with
twenty women before you knew me, that I might show you I would think it
no fault, but be glad to get you after them all, so that I had you! If
you only knew me through and through, how true I am, Harry. Cannot I be
yours? Say you love me just the same, and don't let me be separated from
you again, wil