to remain. An intolerable restlessness urged her, moreover, to be gone.
The awful inertia of the past two hours had turned into a fevered desire
for action. It was the swing of the pendulum, and she felt that if she
did not respond to it she would go mad.

Her knees were still trembling under her, but she controlled them and
turned to the door. As she lifted the latch she looked back and saw Adam
drop heavily into the chair upon which he had leaned for so long. His
attitude was one of almost stubborn patience, but it was evident that
her presence had ceased to count with him. He was waiting--she saw it
clearly in every line of him--waiting to bid his boy Godspeed ere he
fared forth finally on the long voyage from which there is no return.

A sharp sob rose in her throat. She caught her hand to it, forcing it
back. Then, barefooted, she stepped out into the grey dimness that
veiled all things, and left the door of Rufus's cottage open behind
her.




CHAPTER X

THE LONG VOYAGE


She never remembered afterwards how she accomplished the homeward
journey. The rough stones cut her feet again and again, but she never
felt the pain. She went as one who has an urgent mission to perform,
though what that mission was she scarcely knew.