The bottles
on the wall were veiled by the evening mist; a thrush sang in the
little bush at the end of the lawn.
Paul whispered to Maggie: "Come out into the garden."
She went with him, frightened; she could feel his arm tremble
against her waist; his cold hard fingers caught hers. No current ran
from her body to his. They were apart, try as she may. When they had
walked the length of the lawn he caught her close to him, put his
hand roughly up to her neck and, bending her head towards his,
kissed her. She heard his words, strangled and fierce.
"Love me, Maggie-love me-you must--"
When he released her, looking back towards the dark house, she saw
Grace standing there with a lamp in her hand.
Against her will she shared his feeling of guilt, as, like children
caught in a fault, they turned back towards the house.
CHAPTER V
THE BATTLE OF SKEATON
FIRST YEAR
Afterwards, when Maggie looked back she was baffled. She tried to
disentangle the events between that moment when Grace, holding the
lamp in her hand, blinked at them as they came across the lawn, and
that other most awful moment when, in Paul's study, Grace declared
final and irrevocable war.
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