‘Well, there it is! We’re only just in time, my girl.’ She stood mute, paralysed. He wished she would speak.
‘It’s no good your standing there,’ he said. ‘Go on up. I’ll hold the lamp.’
She did not move.
‘I can’t take it in,’ she said.
He put the lamp down on the table again and held out his arms.
Still she did not move.
‘Mary . . .!’
She obeyed, came to his arms, shuddering, shaken with sobs, and through her tears he kissed her, comforting: ‘Mary, don’t cry now, don’t cry . . .’
‘What did I tell you?’ she wailed. ‘Abner, I knew, I knew! I told you something would happen. Thank God it came in time! We’ve not a minute to think. Two or three days! Abner, we must go to-morrow.’