With an immense effort he pulled himself together and made his way to the door. Here the thought of Maud made him pause. She must not see him like this. Then, reflecting that she would almost certainly be safe upstairs with Bunny who had not left his room that day, he fumbled with the door, opened it, and entered.
All was quiet within with the quiet of a well-ordered household. The passage was dimly lit. Slowly he made his halting way along it, reached the stairs and stopped at the foot, leaning on the banisters while he summoned his strength. At last, heavily, like a man in a trance, he began to mount.
The stairs seemed endless. Once or twice he stumbled. At the top he slipped and came down upon his knees.
"Oh damn!" he ejaculated, with weary vehemence.
At the same moment Bunny's door opened, and he heard the light tread of a woman's feet close to him.
She was coming towards him, moving swiftly, when suddenly something seemed to strike her. She stopped dead, recoiling as from a thing unclean.
"Jake!" she said.
He heard the frozen horror in her voice and thrust out a groping hand. "It's all right, my girl. Don't be scared! I didn't mean you to see me--like this."
She drew back from him sharply, speaking no word, gazing at him in the dim light with eyes of wide abhorrence.
"It's--all right," he said again, and with a labouring effort managed to blunder to his feet.