se. It had a cold desolate look which chilled
her.

"Is that the room where you sit?" she asked, pointing to it.

"Yes. There is no other furnished, except my housekeeper's, and she is
away now."

"Away! Then who is with you in the house?"

"At present, no one," he answered. "She was taken ill, and went home
this morning. She is generally ill."

She looked at him perplexed.

"But who does your cooking for you, and light the fires, and that sort
of thing?"

"I haven't thought about it yet," he answered. "I did try to light the
fire this afternoon, but I couldn't quite manage it. I--I think the
sticks must have been damp," he added hesitatingly.

She looked at him, wet through and almost blue with cold, and at the
dull cheerless-looking cottage. Again the woman in her triumphed, and
her eyes filled with tears.

"I never heard anything so preposterous," she exclaimed almost angrily.
"You must be out of your senses, Mr. Brown. Now, be so good as to obey
me at once. Go into the house and get a thick overcoat, the thickest you
have, and then come home with me, and I will give you some tea."

He hesitated, and stood quite still for a moment, with his face turned
steadily away from her. All the subtle sweetness of that last visit of
his to her home had come back to him, and his heart was sick with a
great longing. Was he not a fool to refuse to enter into paradise, when
the gates stood open for him? No words could describe the craving which
he felt to escape, just for a brief while, from the lashings of his
thoughts and the icy misery of his great loneliness. What though he were
courting another sorrow! Could his state be worse than it was? Could any
agony be keener than that which he had already tasted? Were there lower
depths still in the hell of remorse? If so, he would sound them. Though
he died for it, he would not deny himself this one taste of heaven. He
turned suddenly round, with a glow in his eyes which had a strange
effect upon her.

"You are very good to me, Miss Thurwell," he said. "I will come."

"That is sensible of you," she answered. "Get your coat, and you can
catch me up. I think we had better go back the same way, as it is
getting late."

She walked slowly down the path, and he hurried into the cottage. In a
few minutes he overtook her, wrapped in a long Inverness cape from head
to foot, and they walked on side by side.

The grey afternoon had suddenly faded into twilight. Overhead several