and the sun was no longer shining. In the hall I heard Mrs. Mundy go
to the door, heard it open; then heavier footsteps came toward us, I
looked around. Selwyn was standing in the doorway.




CHAPTER XVI

Selwyn closed the door, put his hat and overcoat on a chair beside
it, and came over to the fire. Standing in front of it, hands in his
pockets, he looked at me. I, also, was standing.

"Why don't you sit down? Are you in a hurry? Am I interrupting you?"

I shook my head. "I am not in a hurry, and you are not interrupting.
I thought perhaps--"

"Thought what?"

"That you were in a hurry." I sat down on a footstool near the
mantel, and leaned against the latter, my hands on my knees. "I so
seldom have a visit from a man in the morning that I don't know how
to behave." My head nodded toward the chair he usually preferred.

"I would not take your time now--but I must." He took a seat opposite
me, and looking at me, his face changed. "What is the matter? Are
you sick? Your eyes look like holes in a blanket. Something has
been keeping you awake. What is it?"