Page 166 (1/1)

She passed round it

And he sat there on the couch looking at her

II

For the first instant she re motionless; it was like a declaration of war In one or two of her fragmentary rehearsals upstairs she had supposed she would say soin with But the reality struck conventionality clean out of the realnificant as the crouch of a hound; and she perceived that it was recognized to be so by the other that was there There was in him that quick, silent alertness she had expected: half defiant, half timid, as of a fierce beast that expects a blow

Then she came a step forward and sideways to a chair, sat down in it with a swift, al

This is what she saw: There was the fa, and the shelf of books convenient to the hand; the fire was on her right, and the couch opposite Upon the couch sat the figure of the boy she kneell

He was in the saed his shoes; they were splashed a little with London s she noticed in the h she kept her eyes upon his face

The face itself was beyond her power of analysis Line for line it was Laurie's features, nification was not Laurie's One that was akin looked at her from out of those s of the soul--scrutinized her cautiously, questioningly, and suspiciously It was the face of an enemy aits And she sat and looked at it

A full minute must have passed before she spoke The face had dropped its eyes after the first long look, as if in a kind of relaxation, and re at the fire in a sort of dejection Yet beneath, she perceived plainly, there was the saain with a quick furtive attentiveness The seent beast was soothed, but not yet reassured

"Laurie?" she said

The lips lanced down sideways at the fire; the hands dangled almost helplessly between the knees

There was an appearance of weakness about the attitude that astonished and encouraged her; it appeared as if matters were not yet consuht

"Laurie?" she said again suddenly

Again the lipsrapidly, and the eyes looked up at her quick and suspicious