ns. If she did not hear his footsteps on the
stairs that night; if his knock did not fall upon the door and startle
the silence in her heart into a thousand pulsating echoes, then she
knew that she would be one step nearer to the realization that it
was the end indeed.

She looked again at the clock and then, with sudden decision, went
into the other room and began to undress. From a drawer in the
Chippendale chest which he had bought her, she brought forth a new
nightdress, in-let with dainty openwork, which a few days before she
had purchased. This she put on. Then she went to the mirror,
scrutinizing herself in its polished reflection. Her hair was untidy.
She took it all down and put it up afresh, curling the long strands
around her fingers as he had often said he had loved to see them.
When that was finished, she sprayed herself with scent--on her hair,
her arms, her breast, turning the spray, before it spluttered into
silence, in the direction of the pillow upon which she slept. Finally,
she knelt down by her bedside and prayed--

"Oh God--let him love me--always--always; show me how I can keep him
to love me--always--always."

So she prayed for a way, having already chosen it, as once before
she had prayed for guidance, well knowing what course she was about
to adopt. So most of us pray that we may know those things on which
we have decided knowledge already. It helps us in the throwing of
blame on to the shoulders of God. It consoles us--the deed being
done--when we think that--at least--we prayed.

When she rose to her feet, she stood listening--listening intently.
Then she moved to her bedroom door and opened it. She could hear him
still moving in his room below; but now it was in the room beneath
hers--beneath her bedroom. He was going to bed. She crept to the top
of the stairs. Every sound she could hear there, the dropping of his
boots on the floor, the opening and shutting of his cupboard doors
as he put his clothes away. Then, last of all, the creaking of the
springs of his bed as he got into it and moved to right and left,
seeking the comfortable groove.

A heavy sigh forced its way through her lips. She had to swallow
hastily in her throat to check the sudden rising of the tears. At
last, with impulsive decision, she went back to her room, took a silk
dressing-gown from the wardrobe, fitted her feet into little silk
slippers and, without hesitation, without pausing to formulate her
definite plan