hollow behind the little wood,
Its lips in the field above are dabbled with blood-red heath,
The red-ribbed ledges drip with a silent horror of blood ...

I can't remember any more..."

"But why should that appeal to you?" she asked, disappointed.

"I don't know. It reminds me of something that happened to me once."

She did not feel that it would be profitable to press him further on
this uninteresting point.

XVII

All that afternoon and evening Mrs. Payne watched them. The role of
detective was unnatural to her, and once or twice she couldn't help
feeling that it was unworthy, and that she herself was an ogress, they
were so young and so unsuspicious. She had an impression not that they
were deliberately hiding anything from her, but that the understanding
between them somehow tacitly excluded her from their intimacy. She
felt out of it at Lapton, hovering impotently on the edge of the magic
circle that their passion had created. The strangest thing of all
about this amazing relation of theirs was its air of innocence. She
was so keenly aware of this, and felt herself so likely to fall a
victim to the idea's persuasions, that she had to make an unusual
effort, to remain awake and alive to her plain duty, and to the fact
that this simple and natural love affair was a crime against society, a
disaster that might wreck not only Considine's home, but all Arthur's
future.

She could not make up her mind what to do, and this unsettled her, for
in the ordinary way she was a woman of determination who acted first
and afterwards considered the propriety of her actions. Her first
impulse was to go straight to Considine and say, "I told you so." This
course presented her with the opportunity of an easy triumph, and was
in keeping with her downright traditions; but in this case she was not
in the least anxious to make a personal score. She saw that if she
told Considine she would be firing the train to an explosion that might
end in nothing but useless wreckage. Considine, for instance,
admittedly touchy on the subject of Gabrielle, might refuse to believe
her and show her the door. Arthur would be forced to leave Lapton; and
she thought too highly of Considine's influence on him to run the risk
of a relapse. On the other hand Considine might believe her, and put
the very worst construction on what she told him. She saw the
possibility of Arthur's being landed in the Divorce Court, which was
unth