n the
direction of the dressing-table groped for a match-box and lit the gas.
Dazzled by the glare of the gas, she turned to look at the corner where
stood George Cannon.

III

The whole aspect of the room was now altered. The window was blacker
than anything else; light shone on the carved frame of the mirror and on
the vessels of the washstand; the trunks each threw a sharply defined
shadow; the bed was half in the shadow of its mahogany foot, and half a
glittering white; all the array of requisites on the dressing-table lay
stark under the close scrutiny of the gas; and high above the bed,
partly on the wall and partly on the ceiling, was a bright oblong
reflection from the upturned mirror.

Hilda turned to George with a straightening of the shoulders, as if to
say: "It is I who have the courage to light the gas and face the
situation!" But when she saw him her challenging pride seemed to die
slowly away. Though there was no sign of a tear on his features, and
though it was difficult to believe that it was he who had just sobbed,
nevertheless, his figure was dismayingly tragic. Every feature was
distorted by agitation. He was absorbed in himself, shameless and
careless of appearances. He was no more concerned about appearances and
manly shame than a sufferer dying in torment. He was beyond all that--in
truth a new George Cannon! He left the corner, and sat down on the bed
in the hollow made by Hilda, and stared at the wall, his hands in the
pockets of his gay suit. His gestures as he moved, and his posture as he
sat, made their unconscious appeal to her in their abandonment. He was
caught; he was vanquished; he was despairing; but he instinctively, and
without any wish to do so, kept his dignity. He was still, in his
complete overthrow, the mature man of the world, the man to whom it was
impossible to be ridiculous.

Hilda in a curious way grew proud of him. With an extraordinary
inconsequence she dwelt upon the fact that, always grand--even as a
caterer, he had caused to be printed at the foot of the menu forms which
he had instituted, the words: "A second helping of all or any of the
above dishes will willingly be served if so desired." And in the general
havoc of the shock she began to be proud also of herself, because it was
the mysterious power of her individuality that had originated the
disaster. The sense of their intimate withdrawn seclusion in the room,
disordered and littered by arrival, utterly alo