He unlocked and opened the door, standing back for her to pass.
He kept his eyes downcast as she went through, and she knew that it was in response to her appeal that he did so. She tingled with a burning embarrassment, which vanished all in a moment as he said: "Say, now, do you mind if I light my pipe before I follow you? Don't wait! I'll catch you up."
And she made her way out into the fleeting sunlight and racing wind with a strong sense of relief. The pipe was not a particularly aristocratic feature of Jake's existence, but it was an extremely characteristic one, and it placed matters on a normal footing at once. Jake was never disconcerting or formidable when he was smoking a pipe. She consented to it gladly.
And Jake turned back into the room with a grim smile on his lips, picked up a letter from the table, and thrust it deep into the fire.
After that he lighted his pipe with the charred remnants thereof, and followed Maud into the open.
CHAPTER XIV
THE WAY OF ESCAPE
The sun shone out again as they went down the hill, and the sea gleamed below them like a sheet of silver.
"You like this place?" asked Jake.
"I could like it," she made answer.