rough the uncurtained window of the kitchen the heads
of Mr. and Mrs. Leivers in the warm glow. It looked very cosy. The road,
with pine trees, was quite black in front.

"Till tomorrow," he said, jumping on his bicycle.

"You'll take care, won't you?" she pleaded.

"Yes."

His voice already came out of the darkness. She stood a moment watching
the light from his lamp race into obscurity along the ground. She
turned very slowly indoors. Orion was wheeling up over the wood, his dog
twinkling after him, half smothered. For the rest the world was full of
darkness, and silent, save for the breathing of cattle in their stalls.
She prayed earnestly for his safety that night. When he left her, she
often lay in anxiety, wondering if he had got home safely.

He dropped down the hills on his bicycle. The roads were greasy, so he
had to let it go. He felt a pleasure as the machine plunged over the
second, steeper drop in the hill. "Here goes!" he said. It was risky,
because of the curve in the darkness at the bottom, and because of the
brewers' waggons with drunken waggoners asleep. His bicycle seemed
to fall beneath him, and he loved it. Recklessness is almost a man's
revenge on his woman. He feels he is not valued, so he will risk
destroying himself to deprive her altogether.

The stars on the lake seemed to leap like grasshoppers, silver upon the
blackness, as he spun past. Then there was the long climb home.

"See, mother!" he said, as he threw her the berries and leaves on to the
table.

"H'm!" she said, glancing at them, then away again. She sat reading,
alone, as she always did.

"Aren't they pretty?"

"Yes."

He knew she was cross with him. After a few minutes he said:

"Edgar and Miriam are coming to tea tomorrow."

She did not answer.

"You don't mind?"

Still she did not answer.

"Do you?" he asked.

"You know whether I mind or not."

"I don't see why you should. I have plenty of meals there."

"You do."

"Then why do you begrudge them tea?"

"I begrudge whom tea?"

"What are you so horrid for?"

"Oh, say no more! You've asked her to tea, it's quite sufficient. She'll
come."

He was very angry with his mother. He knew it was merely Miriam she
objected to. He flung off his boots and went to bed.

Paul went to meet his friends the next afternoon. He was glad to see
them coming. They arrived home at about four o'clock. Everywhere was
clean and still for Sunday afternoon. Mrs. Morel sat in