Janey bade him good-night again, and slipped indoors. The moonlight and the clematis which a moment before had been so full of mysterious meaning were suddenly emptied of all significance.
CHAPTER XIV
"O Life, how naked and how hard when known!
Life said, As thou hast carved me, such am I."
George Meredith.
Janey lit her bedroom candle with a hand that trembled a little, and in her turn went slowly upstairs.
She could hear the clatter of knives and forks in the dining-room, and Harry's vacant laugh, and Nurse's sharp voice. They had come back, then. She went with an effort into her mother's room, and sat down in her accustomed chair by the bed.
"It is ten o'clock. Shall I read, mother?"