She spent the hours in loneliness and misery. Mr. Wyvern
called, but even him she begged through a servant to excuse her; her
mother likewise came, and her she talked with for a few minutes,
then pleaded headache. At nine o'clock in the evening she went to
her bedroom. She had a soporific at hand, remaining from the time of
her illness, and in dread of a sleepless night she had recourse to
it.
It seemed to her that she had slept a very long time when a great
and persistent noise awoke her. It was someone knocking at her door,
even, as she at length became aware, turning the handle and shaking
it. Being alone, she had locked herself in. She sprang from bed, put
on her dressing-gown, and went to the door. Then came her husband's
voice, impatiently calling her name. She admitted him.
Through the white blind the morning twilight just made objects
visible in the room; Adela afterwards remembered noticing the drowsy
pipe of a bird near the window. Mutimer came in, and, without
closing the door, began to demand angrily why she had locked him
out. Only now she quite shook off her sleep, and could perceive that
there was something unusual in his manner. He smelt strongly of
tobacco, and, as she fancied, of spirits; but it was his staggering
as he moved to draw up the blind that made her aware of his
condition.
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