She found afterwards that he had driven all the way from
Belwick, and the marvel was that he had accomplished such a feat;
probably his horse deserved most of the credit. When he had pulled
the blind up, he turned, propped himself against the dressing-table,
and gazed at her with terribly lack-lustre eyes. Then she saw the
expression of his face change; there came upon it a smile such as
she had never seen or imagined, a hideous smile that made her blood
cold. Without speaking, he threw himself forward and came towards
her. For an instant she was powerless, paralysed with terror; but
happily she found utterance for a cry, and that released her limbs.
Before he could reach her, she had darted out of the room, and fled
to another chamber, that which Alice had formerly occupied, where
she locked herself against him. To her surprise he did not discover
her retreat; she heard him moving about the passages, stumbling here
and there, then he seemed to return to his bedroom. She wrapped
herself in a counterpane, and sat in a chair till it was full
morning.
He was absent for a week after that. Of course his polling at the
election had been ridiculously small compared with that of the other
candidates. When he returned he went about his ordinary occupations;
he was seemingly not in his usual health, but the constant
irritableness had left him.
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