so profoundly asleep that for a few moments she could not recall
what it was that had happened during the previous day to cause her
anxiety.

After the visit of the doctor, Louis' moral condition had apparently
improved. He had affected to be displeased by the doctor's air of
treating his case as though it was deprived of all importance. He
had said that the doctor had failed to grasp his case. He had stated
broadly that in these days of State health insurance all doctors
were too busy and too wealthy to be of assistance to private patients
capable of paying their bills in the old gentlemanly fashion. But his
remarks had not been without a touch of facetiousness in their wilful
disgust. And the mere tone of his voice proved that he felt better. To
justify his previous black pessimism he had of course been obliged to
behave in a certain manner (well known among patients who have been
taking themselves too seriously), and Rachel had understood and
excused. She would have been ready, indeed, to excuse for worse
extravagances than any that could have occurred to the fancy of a
nature so polite and benevolent as that of Louis; for, in order to
atone for her silly school-girlishness, she had made a compact with
herself to be an angel and a serpent simultaneously for the entire
remainder of her married life.

Then Mrs. Tams had come in, from errands of marketing, with a copy of
the early special of the _Signal_, containing a description of
the accident. Mrs. Tams had never before bought such a thing as a
newspaper, but an acquaintance of hers who "stood the market" with
tripe and chitterlings had told her that Mr. Fores was "in" the
_Signal_, and accordingly she had bravely stopped a news-boy
in the street and made the purchase. To Rachel she pointed out the
paragraph with pride, and to please her and divert Louis, Rachel
had introduced the newspaper into the bedroom. The item was headed:
"Runaway Horses in Bursley Market-place. Providential Escape." It
spoke of Mr. Louis Fores' remarkable skill and presence of mind in
swerving away with two bicycles. It said that Mr. Louis Fores was an
accomplished cyclist, and that after a severe shaking Mr. Louis Fores
drove home in a taxicab "apparently little the worse, save for facial
contusions, for his perilous adventure." Lastly, it said that a
representative of the Midland Railway had "assured our representative
that the horses were not the property of the Midland Railway." Louis