Jane was blanched; but she rose from her knees at once, and reached
a candlestick from above the fireplace.

'What's that for?' shouted Clem, with her mouth full. 'You've no
need of a light to find the mantel-piece. If you're not off--'

Jane hastened from the kitchen. Clem yelled to her to close the
door, and she had no choice but to obey. In the dark passage outside
there was darkness that might be felt. The child all but fainted
with the sickness of horror as she turned the handle of the other
door and began to grope her way. She knew exactly where the coffin
was; she knew that to avoid touching it in the diminutive room was
all but impossible. And touch it she did. Her anguish uttered
itself, not in a mere sound of terror, but in a broken word or two
of a prayer she knew by heart, including a name which sounded like a
charm against evil. She had reached the mantel-piece; oh, she could
not, could not find the matches I Yes, at last her hand closed on
them. A blind rush, and she was out again in the passage. She
re-entered the front-kitchen with limbs that quivered, with the
sound of dreadful voices ringing about her, and blankness before her
eyes.

Clem laughed heartily, then finished her beer in a long, enjoyable
pull. Her appetite was satisfied; the last trace of oleaginous
matter had disappeared from her plate, and now she toyed with little
pieces of bread lightly dipped into the mustard-pot. These _bonnes
bouches_ put her into excellent humour; presently she crossed her
arms and leaned back. There was no denying that Clem was handsome;
at sixteen she had all her charms in apparent maturity, and they
were of the coarsely magnificent order. Her forehead was low and of