ingled Protestant church. The
light from its vestibule made a gleaming square on the wet sidewalk, and
into this area, from the surrounding darkness, came silhouetted figures
of men and women holding up umbrellas; some paused for a moment's chat,
their voices subdued by an awareness of the tabernacle. At the sight of
this tiny congregation something stirred within her. She experienced a
twinge of surprise at the discovery that other people in the world, in
Hampton, were still leading tranquil, untormented existences. They were
contented, prosperous, stupid, beyond any need of help from God, and yet
they were going to prayer-meeting to ask something! He refused to find
her in the dark streets. Would she find Him if she went in there? and
would He help her?

The bell in the tower began to clang, with heavy, relentless
strokes--like physical blows from which she flinched--each stirring
her reluctant, drowsy soul to a quicker agony. From the outer blackness
through which she fled she gazed into bright rooms of homes whose blinds
were left undrawn, as though to taunt and mock the wanderer. She was an
outcast! Who henceforth would receive her save those, unconformed and
unconformable, sentenced to sin in this realm of blackness? Henceforth
from all warmth and love she was banished.... In the middle of the
Stanley Street bridge she stopped to lean against the wet rail; the mill
lights were scattered, dancing points of fire over the invisible swift
waters, and she raised her eyes presently to the lights themselves,
seeking one unconsciously--Ditmar's! Yes, it was his she sought; though
it was so distant, sometimes it seemed to burn like a red star, and then
to flicker and disappear. She could not be sure.... Something chill
and steely was in the pocket of her coat--it made a heavy splash in
the water when she dropped it. The river could not be so very cold!
She wished she could go down like that into forgetfulness. But she
couldn't.... Where was Lise now?... It would be so easy just to drop
over that parapet and be whirled away, and down and down. Why couldn't
she? Well, it was because--because--she was going to have a child. Well,
if she had a child to take care of, she would not be so lonely--she
would have something to love. She loved it now, as though she felt it
quickening within her, she wanted it, to lavish on it all of a starved
affection. She seemed actually to feel in her arms its soft little body
pressed against her.