Howat raised up slowly, facing the woman through the draperies. She was
gazing in an incredulous, shocked surprise at the limp, prostrate body
capped in black gros de Naples. A shuddering fear passed over her, and
then her eyes met those of Howat Penny. Even separated from him by the
bed she drew away as if from his touch. He saw that she had forgotten
the dead man in a sharp realization of the portent of the living. She
glanced about the room in the panic of a trapped lark, an abject
fright, searching for an escape.

He realized that there was none; Ludowika now belonged to him
absolutely; he was as remorseless as the pain that had killed Felix
Winscombe. Below the automatic sensations of the moment Howat was
conscious of utter satisfaction. A miracle had given Ludowika to him; in
the passing of a breath all his difficulty had been ended. She was alone
with him in a province of forests and iron and stars. He would make her
forget the gardens of fireworks and scraping violins; but forget or not
she was his ... Ludowika Penny.




II THE FORGE




X


Jasper Penny stood at a window of his bed room, his left arm carried in