He began to eat and drink,
talking all the time.
* * * * *
As she sat and watched him and listened, remembering afterwards, as if
mechanically, all that he said, she was contemplating something else.
She seemed to see Campion, not as he had been three days ago, not as he
was now ... but as she had seen him in London--alert, brisk, quick. Even
the tones of his voice were with her, and the swift merry look in his
eyes.... Somewhere on the outskirts of her thought there hung other
presences: the darkness, the blood, the smoking cauldron.... Oh! she
would have to face these presently; she would go through this night, she
knew, looking at all their terror. But just now let her remember him as
he had been; let her keep off all other thoughts so long as she
could....
II
When she had heard the horse's footsteps scramble down the little steep
ascent in the dark, and then pass into silence on the turf beyond, she
closed the outer door, barred it once more, and then went back straight
into the hall, where the lantern still burned among the plates. She
dared not face her mother yet; she must learn how far she still held
control of herself; for her mother must not hear the news: the
apothecary from Derby who had ridden up to see her this week had been
very emphatic. So the girl must be as usual. There must be no sign of
discomposure. To-night, at least, she would keep her face in the shadow.
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