A very large and wide sofa, low, deep-seated, full of springs and down pillows, stood in the cosy firelight, a great, tall, curving screen behind it.  Mrs Ewing—­as she had done many times before—­crossed over to this sofa, sank into its yielding depths, and looking up at her companion, patted the empty seat beside her.  The man hesitated for an instant, and then—­as he had done many times before—­obeyed the significant gesture.  But now the time for preparation, for hesitation, had expired; it was necessary to brace himself for the decisive deed.  Even as she clasped her hands beneath his ear, he unclasped them, gently but firmly, and drew them down.  With his back to the firelight, she could not see his face, but he could see hers, and the swift change in its expression.  She was puzzled and surprised, but, as her hands were still held fast in his iron fists, resting on his knee, she was not conscious of the state of the case.

“My girl,” he said, clearing his throat—­she had allowed him so many liberties that this mode of address was quite in order—­“you and I can speak plainly to each other.  There’s no need for us to beat about the bush, is there?”

“Of course not,” she replied, all at sea as to what this portended, but jumping to the conclusion that he was going to be proud about the money.  “It would be an odd thing if we took to being shy, at this time of day.”

“It would, wouldn’t it?” He cleared his throat again, and made a fresh start.  “Look here, Francie—­don’t do that!  Listen to me child—­”

“I am not a child, sir.  Allow me to inform you that I was twenty-nine last birthday.”  She was so pleased to think she was only twenty-nine, rich and free, with her life in her hands, and half a year-from thirty still, when she might have dragged on till she was old and grey, or in her grave!  “And why am I not to do that?  Since when have you lost your taste for kisses?” Then suddenly, with an anxious cry—­“Guthrie! darling! what is the matter with you?”

“Nothing,” he said hastily—­“nothing, of course, except that we must be serious and sensible, and—­and talk things over quietly, dear.  As you say, you are not a child.  No more am I. We know the ropes, Francie, don’t we?  We’ve outgrown the delusions of boys and girls.  We’ve had our experiences as man and woman—­eh?  You know what I mean.  No need to mince matters—­to go in for conventional nonsense—­you and I. We can talk straight to each other at a time like this?”

As he laboured painfully to explain, without explaining, her face faded like a sunny landscape when a wet fog crawls over it.  For, Francie though it was, she loved him—­she loved him all she knew.

“Guthrie,” she moaned piteously, “have you left off caring for me?”

“No, Francie.  Of course I haven’t.”

“Have you—­while I have been away, and in so much trouble—­been putting another woman in my place?”

“Certainly not.”