Mrs. Wake again came in.  ‘You have not rung for supper—­’

’He is not yet come, Mrs. Wake.  If you want to go to bed, bring in the supper and set it on the table.  It will be nearly as good cold.  Leave the door unbarred.’

Mrs. Wake did as was suggested, made up the fire, and went away.  Shortly afterwards Christine heard her retire to her chamber.  But Christine still sat on, and still her husband postponed his entry.

She aroused herself once or twice to freshen the fire, but was ignorant how the night was going.  Her watch was upstairs and she did not make the effort to go up to consult it.  In her seat she continued; and still the supper waited, and still he did not come.

At length she was so nearly persuaded that the arrival of his things must have been a dream after all, that she again went over to them, felt them, and examined them.  His they unquestionably were; and their forwarding by the porter had been quite natural.  She sighed and sat down again.

Presently she fell into a doze, and when she again became conscious she found that the four candles had burnt into their sockets and gone out.  The fire still emitted a feeble shine.  Christine did not take the trouble to get more candles, but stirred the fire and sat on.

After a long period she heard a creaking of the chamber floor and stairs at the other end of the house, and knew that the farmer’s family were getting up.  By-and-by Mrs. Wake entered the room, candle in hand, bouncing open the door in her morning manner, obviously without any expectation of finding a person there.

‘Lord-a-mercy!  What, sitting here again, ma’am?’

‘Yes, I am sitting here still.’

‘You’ve been there ever since last night?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then—­’

‘He’s not come.’

‘Well, he won’t come at this time o’ morning,’ said the farmer’s wife.  ’Do ‘ee get on to bed, ma’am.  You must be shrammed to death!’

It occurred to Christine now that possibly her husband had thought better of obtruding himself upon her company within an hour of revealing his existence to her, and had decided to pay a more formal visit next day.  She therefore adopted Mrs. Wake’s suggestion and retired.

CHAPTER VIII

Nicholas had gone straight home, neither speaking to nor seeing a soul.  From that hour a change seemed to come over him.  He had ever possessed a full share of self-consciousness; he had been readily piqued, had shown an unusual dread of being personally obtrusive.  But now his sense of self, as an individual provoking opinion, appeared to leave him.  When, therefore, after a day or two of seclusion, he came forth again, and the few acquaintances he had formed in the town condoled with him on what had happened, and pitied his haggard looks, he did not shrink from their regard as he would have done formerly, but took their sympathy as it would have been accepted by a child.