第32章

“Here’stheinformationIwant，“hesaidtoAnne；“ifIonlyknewhowtogetatit。’Down’——’Up’——’A。M。’——P。M。’Whatacursedconfusion!Ibelievetheydoitonpurpose。“

Annejoinedhimatthefire-place。

“Iunderstandit——I’llhelpyou。Didyousayitwastheuptrainyouwanted？“

“Whatisthenameofthestationyoustopat？“

Arnoldtoldher。Shefollowedtheintricatenet-workoflinesandfigureswithherfinger——suddenlystopped——lookedagaintomakesure——andturnedfromthetime-tablewithafaceofblankdespair。Thelasttrainforthedayhadgoneanhoursince。

Inthesilencewhichfollowedthatdiscovery，afirstflashoflightningpassedacrossthewindowandthelowrollofthundersoundedtheoutbreakofthestorm。

“What’stobedonenow？“askedArnold。

Inthefaceofthestorm，Anneansweredwithouthesitation，“Youmusttakeacarriage，anddrive。“

“Drive？Theytoldmeitwasthree-and-twentymiles，byrailway，fromthestationtomyplace——letalonethedistancefromthisinntothestation。“

“Whatdoesthedistancematter？Mr。Brinkworth，youcan’tpossiblystayhere!“

Asecondflashoflightningcrossedthewindow；therollofthethundercamenearer。EvenArnold’sgoodtemperbegantobealittleruffledbyAnne’sdeterminationtogetridofhim。Hesatdownwiththeairofamanwhohadmadeuphismindnottoleavethehouse。

“Doyouhearthat？“heasked，asthesoundofthethunderdiedawaygrandly，andthehardpatteringoftherainonthewindowbecameaudibleoncemore。“IfIorderedhorses，doyouthinktheywouldletmehavethem，insuchweatherasthis？And，iftheydid，doyousupposethehorsescouldfaceitonthemoor？No，no，MissSilvester——Iamsorrytobeintheway，butthetrainhasgone，andthenightandthestormhavecome。Ihavenochoicebuttostayhere!“

Annestillmaintainedherownview，butlessresolutelythanbefore。“Afterwhatyouhavetoldthelandlady，“shesaid，“thinkoftheembarrassment，thecruelembarrassmentofourposition，ifyoustopattheinntillto-morrowmorning!“

“Isthatall？“returnedArnold。

Annelookedupathim，quicklyandangrily。No!hewasquiteunconsciousofhavingsaidanythingthatcouldoffendher。Hisroughmasculinesensebrokeitswayunconsciouslythroughallthelittlefemininesubtletiesanddelicaciesofhiscompanion，andlookedthepositionpracticallyinthefaceforwhatitwasworth，andnomore。“Where’stheembarrassment？“heasked，pointingtothebedroomdoor。“There’syourroom，allreadyforyou。Andhere’sthesofa，inthisroom，allreadyfor_me。_IfyouhadseentheplacesIhavesleptinatsea——!“

Sheinterruptedhim，withoutceremony。Theplaceshehadsleptin，atsea，wereofnoearthlyimportance。Theonequestiontoconsider，wastheplacehewastosleepinthatnight。

“Ifyoumuststay，“sherejoined，“can’tyougetaroominsomeotherpartofthehouse？“

Butonelastmistakeindealingwithher，inherpresentnervouscondition，waslefttomake——andtheinnocentArnoldmadeit。“Insomeotherpartofthehou