by half-past one the lights had long been out in all the rooms, and perfect silence reigned throughout the household. impelled by a wild desire to see him once more, even though she loathed him, edie took a bedroom candle in her hand, and stole slowly down the big staircase.
loathed him? loved him—ay, loved him even so. loved him, and the more she loved him, the more utterly loathed him.
if it had been any lesser or lower man, she might have forgiven him. but him—harry—it was too unspeakable.
creeping along the passage to the library door, she paused and listened. inside, there was a noise of footsteps, pacing up and down the room hurriedly. he had come to himself, then! he had slept off his drunken helplessness! she paused and listened again to hear further.
harry was stalking to and fro across the floor with fiery eagerness, sobbing bitterly to himself, and pausing every now and then with a sort of sudden spasmodic hesitation. from time to time she heard him mutter aloud, "she must have seen me! she must have seen me! they will tell her, they will tell her! oh, god! they will tell her!"
should she unlock the door, and fling herself wildly into his arms? her instinct told her to do it, but she faltered and hesitated. a drunkard! a drunkard! oh no! she could not. the evil genius conquered the good, and she checked the impulse that alone could have saved her.
she crept up again, with heart standing still and failing within her, and flung herself once more upon her own bed.
two o'clock. three. half-past three. a quarter to four.[pg 72]
how long the night seems when you are watching and weeping!
suddenly, at the quarter-hour just gone, a sharp ring at a bell disturbed her lethargy—a ring two or three times repeated, which waked the butler from his sound slumber.
edie walked out cautiously to the top of the stairs and listened. the butler stood at the library door and knocked in vain. edie heard a letter pushed under the door, and in a muffled voice heard harry saying, "give that letter to your mistress, hardy—to-morrow morning."
a vague foreboding of evil overcame her. she stole down the stairs in the blank dark and took the letter without a word from the half-dressed and wondering butler. then she glided back to her own room, sat down eagerly by the dressing-table, and began to read it.
"edie,
"this is the third time, and i determined with myself that the third time should be the last one. once in london; once at hereford; once now. i can stand it no longer. my father died a drunkard. my mother died a drunkard. i cannot resist the temptation. it is better i should not stop here. i have tried hard, but i am beaten in the struggle. i loved you dearly: i love you still far too much to burden your life by my miserable presence. i have left you everything. evan will make you happier than i could. forgive me.
"harry."
she dropped the letter with a scream, and almost would have fainted.
but even before the faintness could wholly overcome her, another sound rang out sharper and clearer far from the room below her. it brought her back to herself immediately. it was the report of a pistol.
edie and the butler hurried back in breathless suspense to the library door. it was locked still. edie took the key from her pocket and turned it quickly. when they entered, the candles on the mantelpiece were burning brightly, and harry lewin's body, shot through the heart, lay in a pool of gurgling blood right across the spattered hearthrug.
