ker than the rest. I went to it, and crouched in it, and placed
my head upon my knees. Now my gown had me gripped like a fist, so that the
more I wriggled to undo it, the tighter it grew—at last, There is a screw at my
back, I thought, & they are tightening it!
Then I knew where I was. I was with her, and close to her, so close—what did
she say once? closer than wax. I felt the cell about me, the jacket upon me—
And yet, I seemed to feel my eyes bound, too, with bands of silk. And at my
throat there was a velvet collar.
I cannot say how long I crouched there. Once there were footsteps on the stairs,
a gentle knocking, and a whisper—''Are you awake?'' It might have been Helen, it
might have been one of the girls, I don''t think it was Mother. Whoever it was I did
not answer her, and she didn''t come, but must have thought me sleeping—I
wondered vaguely, Why would she think that, seeing an empty bed? Then I heard
voices in the hall, Stephen whistling for a cab. I heard Mr Dance''s laughter in the
street beneath my window, the front door closed and bolted, Mother calling
something sharp as she walked from room to room, seeing the fires out. I covered
my ears. When I listened next there was only the sound of Vigers moving in the
room above my own, and then the sawing and the sighing of the springs of her bed.