drawing-room for a telegram form in dressing-gown and slippers, her hair in two plaits, shivering with cold and apprehension. The house was full of eerie sounds; she heard pursuing feet. After she had secured the forms she rushed for the shelter of her room and the warmth of her bed; cowering under the clothes, not able for a long time to do the task she had set herself. When she became sufficiently rested she took more time and care over the wording of her telegram to Gabriel than she might have done over a sonnet. She wanted to say just enough, not too much, not to bring him down, yet to make the matter urgent. Stevens was rung for at six o'clock for tea and perhaps sympathy.
"Get me a cup of tea as quickly as you can, I've been awake the whole night. I want this telegram sent off as soon as the office opens, not later anyway than eight o'clock. Keep the house as quiet as you can. I shall try and sleep now."
She slept until Gabriel's telegram came back.
One of our own men coming with package by 3.15.
She met the train, looking pale and wretched. Stanton's man wore the familiar cap. She had been to the office two or three times about the pottery book, and he recognised her easily.
"You have a parcel for me?"
