'And she refused?'

'She said she only wanted things to go on just as they are.'




XVII


In some trepidation Julia knocked. Receiving no reply, she opened the door,
and her candle burnt in what a moment before must have been inky darkness.
Emily lay on her bed--on the edge of it; and the only movement she made was
to avert her eyes from the light. 'What! all alone in this darkness,
Emily!... Shall I light your candles?' She had to repeat the question
before she could get an answer.

'No, thank you; I want nothing; I have no wish to see anything. I like the
dark.'

'Have you been asleep?'

'No; I have not.... Why do you come to torment me? It cannot matter to you
whether I lie in the dark or the light. Oh, take that candle away! it is
blinding me.' Julia put the candle on the washstand. Then full of pity for
the grieving girl, she stood, her hand resting on the bed-rail.

'Aren't you coming down to dinner, Emily? Come, let me pour out some water
for you. When you have bathed your eyes----'