leave them," Katharine continued.
His deep pride in his family was more evident to him, at that moment,
than ever before, and the idea of living alone in a cottage was
ridiculous. All that brotherhood and sisterhood, and a common childhood
in a common past mean, all the stability, the unambitious comradeship,
and tacit understanding of family life at its best, came to his mind,
and he thought of them as a company, of which he was the leader, bound
on a difficult, dreary, but glorious voyage. And it was Katharine who
had opened his eyes to this, he thought.

A little dry chirp from the corner of the room now roused her attention.

"My tame rook," he explained briefly. "A cat had bitten one of its
legs." She looked at the rook, and her eyes went from one object to
another.

"You sit here and read?" she said, her eyes resting upon his books. He
said that he was in the habit of working there at night.

"The great advantage of Highgate is the view over London. At night the
view from my window is splendid." He was extremely anxious that she
should appreciate his view, and she rose to see what was to be seen.
It was already dark enough for the turbulent haze to be yellow with the
light of street lamps, and she tried to determine the quarters of the
city beneath her. The sight of her gazing from his window gave him a
peculiar satisfaction. When she turned, at length, he was still sitting
motionless in his chair.

"It must be late," she said. "I must be going." She settled upon the
arm of the chair irresolutely, thinking that she had no wish to go home.
William would be there, and he would find some way of making things
unpleasant for her, and the memory of their quarrel came back to her.
She had noticed Ralph's coldness, too. She looked at him, and from his
fixed stare she thought that he must be working out some theory, some
argument. He had thought, perhaps, of some fresh point in his position,
as to the bounds of personal liberty. She waited, silently, thinking
about liberty.

"You've won again," he said at last, without moving.

"I've won?" she repeated, thinking of the argument.

"I wish to God I hadn't asked you here," he burst out.

"What do you mean?"

"When you're here, it's different--I'm happy. You've only to walk to
the window--you've only to talk about liberty. When I saw you down there
among them all--" He stopped short.

"You thought how ordinary I was."

"I tried to think so. But I thought you mo