“I was going to you,” she said breathlessly.

“So I imagined, bright one.”

“Are you tired, Kate, mavourneen?”

“A little.  It’s been a hard day.  I don’t see why my heart isn’t broken, considering the things I see and hear, Marna!  I don’t so much mind about the grown-ups.  If they succeed in making a mess of things, why, they can take the consequences.  But the kiddies—­they’re the ones that torment me.  Try as I can to harden myself, and to say that after I’ve done my utmost my responsibility ends, I can’t get them off my mind.  But what’s on your mind, bright one?”

“Oh, Kate, so much!  But wait till we get to the house.  It’s not a thing to shriek out here on the street.”

The wind swept around the corner, buffeting them, and Kate drew Marna’s arm in her own and fairly bore the little creature along with her.  They entered the silent house, groped through the darkened hall and up the stairs to Kate’s own room.

“Honora isn’t home, I fancy,” she said, in apology for the pervading desolation.  “She stays late at the laboratory these nights.  She says she’s on the verge of a wonderful discovery.  It’s something she and David have been working out together, but she’s been making some experiments in secret, with which she means to surprise David.  Of course she’ll give all the credit to him—­that’s her policy.  She’s his helpmate, she says, nothing more.”

“But the babies?” asked Marna with that naivete characteristic of her.  “Where are they?”

“Up in the nursery at the top of the house.  It will be light and warm there, I think.  Honora had a fireplace put in so that it would be cheerful.  I always feel sure it’s pleasant up there, however forbidding the rest of the house may look.”

“Mary has made a great difference with it since she came, hasn’t she?  Of course Honora couldn’t do the wonderful things she’s doing and be fussing around the house all the time.  Still, she might train her servants, mightn’t she?”

“Well, there aren’t really any to train,” said Kate.  “There’s Mrs. Hays, the nurse, a very good woman, but as we take our meals out, and are all so independent, there’s no one else required, except occasionally.  Honora wouldn’t think of such an extravagance as a parlor maid.  We’re a community of working folk, you see.”

Marna had been lighting the candles which Kate usually kept for company; and, moreover, since there was kindling at hand, she laid a fire and touched a match to it.

“I must have it look homey, Kate—­for reasons.”

“Do whatever it suits you to do, child.”

“But can I tell you what it suits me to do, Kate?”

“How do I know?  Are you referring to visible things or talking in parables?  There’s something very eerie about you to-night, Marna.  Your eyes look phosphorescent.  What’s been happening to you?  Is it the glory of last night that’s over you yet?”