THE   WINDOW
up her mind. She was uneasy. Had she not
laughed about it? Was she not forgetting again
how strongly she influenced people? Marriage
needed—oh all sorts of qualities (the bill for the
greenhouse would be fifty pounds); one—she need
not name it—that was essential; the thing she
had with her husband. Had they that?
" Then he put on his trousers and ran away
like a madman/' she read. " But outside a great
storm was raging and blowing so hard that he
could scarcely keep his feet; houses and trees
toppled over, the mountains trembled, rocks
rolled into the sea, the sky was pitch black, and it
thundered and lightened, and the sea came in
with black waves as high as church towers and
"mountains, and all with white foam at the
top."
She turned the page; there were only a few
lines more, so that she would finish the story,
though it was past bed-time. It was getting
late. The light in the garden told her that; and
the whitening of the flowers and something
grey in the leaves conspired together to rouse
in her a feeling of anxiety. What it was about
she could not think at first. Then she remem-
bered; Paul and Minta and Andrew had .not
come back. She summoned before her again
the little group on the terrace in front of the hall
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