The little bed stood there, white and
innocent in the candlelight, the drawer still gaped, showing its
pathetic contents; the furniture, pictures, texts, and all the rest
remained in their places, harmless and undefiled as when Amy herself
had set them there.
He looked carefully round before entering; then, stepping forward, he
took the candle, closed the drawer, not without difficulty, glanced
round once more, and went out, locking the door behind him.
"A pack of nonsense!" he said, as he tossed the key on to the table
before his wife.
The theological discussion waxed late that night, and by ten o'clock
Mrs. Nugent, under the influence of an excellent supper and a touch of
stimulant, had begun to condemn her own terrors, or rather to cease to
protest when her husband condemned them for her. A number of solutions
had been proposed for the startling little incident, to none of which
did she give an unqualified denial. It was the stooping that had done
it; there had been a rush of blood to the head that had emptied the
heart and caused the sinking feeling. It was the watercress eaten in
such abundance on the previous afternoon. It was the fact that she had
passed an unoccupied morning, owing to the closing of the shop.
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