With her eyes fixed on the fireplace, she brushed past me without
perceiving me, took a chair, and sat down in front of the fire, her
elbows resting on her knees, and her face meditatively sunk between
her hands. Her sobbing bad ceased, and unless my ears deceived me,
had given place to an occasional soft happy gurgle of childish
laughter.
I stepped out from the shelter of my archway into the middle of the
room, dubious as to what course to pursue. I thought that, on the
whole, the movement that would startle her least would be to slip
quietly out of the room and out of the house while she was in the
reverie, then knock at the door. She would arouse herself then,
expecting to see some one, and would not be so entirely taken by
surprise at the sight of my face as she would have been at finding
me, without the slightest warning, standing behind her in the room.
I did this: I slipped out at the door and knocked, gently at first,
but got no answer; then a little louder--no answer; then louder and
louder, till at last I thundered at the door in a state of growing
alarm; still no answer.
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