“Then, have you heard that Willy is at Carrickbeg?” I asked excitedly.
“No, my dear, no,” he said, shaking his head two or three times; “I know nothing about him. I confused Carrickbeg with Moycullen. Till a few years ago, Carrickbeg was our nearest station, and in those days travellers did not arrive here till one o’clock in the morning—one o’clock on a cold snowy morning.” He slowly repeated to himself, with a shudder.
I felt very sorry to see how unhinged he was by what he had gone through, and I tried to persuade him to eat something, but without success. He poured himself out a glass of port, and, having drunk it, again left his chair and stood by the fire, fidgeting with a trembling hand with the objects on the mantelshelf. Dinner was soon over, and, not liking to leave Uncle Dominick, I drew a chair over to the fire and sat down. He did not seem to notice me, but began to pace up and down the room, stopping now and then by one of the windows as if listening for sounds outside; but the noisy splashing of the water that fell from a broken eaveshoot on to the gravel, was all that was to be heard.
“There!” he said at last, in a whisper; “do you hear the wheels? Do you hear them coming?”
I jumped up and listened too. “No, I can hear nothing.”
“I did hear them,” he said positively. “I know they are beginning.”
I could not understand what he meant, but I went to the nearest window, and was beginning to unbar the shutters, when there came a loud ring at the hall-door bell.
“I told you he was coming,” my uncle said. “I must get out some brandy for him after his long drive in the snow.”
The hall door was opened, and I heard Roche’s voice raised excitedly, and then the rustle of a mackintosh being thrown off. I ran to the door, and, opening it, met Willy coming into the room.
His face was all wet with rain, and his hair was hanging in damp points on his forehead. He took my outstretched hand and shook it, and, without answering my incoherent questions, walked past me into the room. My uncle was still standing by the window, holding with one hand to the heavy folds of the red curtain.