502 ANGEL PAVEMENT

vigils were the worst, when he turned and tossed and his
eyes burned and the hollow place in his head enlarged
itself; but these things did not do him much good, and
what sleep he got, he paid for in the morning, when he
felt heavy and shivery, so that the scantiest wash and
shave was a hard drudgery. His work in the office was
that too, though after Mr. Smeeth had taken him into
the "White Horse," he tried to appear a bit more
energetic, for he knew very well that if he lost his job,
he was in a hopeless situation. All these things, however
were only on the dream-like fringe of life. What was
there in the centre, though this was like a dream too, a
very different dream, dark, urgent, and with a terrible
beauty, was his pursuit of Lena, the outward Lena who
was behaving so strangely to him, whom she had wel-
comed and kissed and held so close. Even yet he believed
that she was merely teasing him, holding him off for a
little space, and that soon all would be well.

At last, after seeing her several times in one week, at
a distance and never once alone, he made a desperate
throw and spoke to her. It was a queer night, unlike any
other he had seen during the time he had haunted
Maida Valey for during the afternoon, a Wednesday,
there had been a sudden heavy fall of snow, so sudden,
so heavy, that for once it had remained as snow and had
not changed immediately into a black slush. The roofs
and gardens and privet hedges in Carrington Villas were
still white with it; even the gates and railings here and
there were snow lined; and the night was at once curi-
ously light and muffled. He did not pay any close atten-
tion to these details, did not consciously observe the
brilliance of the stars, the unusually solid velvety blaci
oŁ the houses, the white-blanketed spaces, the sudden