Yeobright returned to the room without his cousin.  When within two or three feet of Eustacia he stopped, as if again arrested by a thought.  He was gazing at her.  She looked another way, disconcerted, and wondered how long this purgatory was to last.  After lingering a few seconds he passed on again.

To court their own discomfiture by love is a common instinct with certain perfervid women.  Conflicting sensations of love, fear, and shame reduced Eustacia to a state of the utmost uneasiness.  To escape was her great and immediate desire.  The other mummers appeared to be in no hurry to leave; and murmuring to the lad who sat next to her that she preferred waiting for them outside the house, she moved to the door as imperceptibly as possible, opened it, and slipped out.

The calm, lone scene reassured her.  She went forward to the palings and leant over them, looking at the moon.  She had stood thus but a little time when the door again opened.  Expecting to see the remainder of the band Eustacia turned; but no—­Clym Yeobright came out as softly as she had done, and closed the door behind him.

He advanced and stood beside her.  “I have an odd opinion,” he said, “and should like to ask you a question.  Are you a woman—­or am I wrong?”

“I am a woman.”

His eyes lingered on her with great interest.  “Do girls often play as mummers now?  They never used to.”

“They don’t now.”

“Why did you?”

“To get excitement and shake off depression,” she said in low tones.

“What depressed you?”

“Life.”

“That’s a cause of depression a good many have to put up with.”

“Yes.”

A long silence.  “And do you find excitement?” asked Clym at last.

“At this moment, perhaps.”

“Then you are vexed at being discovered?”

“Yes; though I thought I might be.”

“I would gladly have asked you to our party had I known you wished to come.  Have I ever been acquainted with you in my youth?”

“Never.”

“Won’t you come in again, and stay as long as you like?”

“No.  I wish not to be further recognized.”

“Well, you are safe with me.”  After remaining in thought a minute he added gently, “I will not intrude upon you longer.  It is a strange way of meeting, and I will not ask why I find a cultivated woman playing such a part as this.”

She did not volunteer the reason which he seemed to hope for, and he wished her good night, going thence round to the back of the house, where he walked up and down by himself for some time before re-entering.