Nor was she fond of mixing with people whom she
did not know well; when there was company at dinner, she generally
begged to be allowed to dine alone. Though always anxious to give
pleasure to her parents, she was most happy when nothing drew her
from her own room; there she would read and dream through hours
There were times when the old dreaded feelings took revenge;
night-wakings, when she lay in cold anguish, yearning for the dawn.
She was not yet strong enough to face past and future, secured in
attained conviction. As yet, she could not stir beyond the present,
and in the enjoyment of the present was her strength.
CHAPTER XIX
IN THE MEANTIME
It was one Wednesday evening in early April, that Waymark found a
letter awaiting him, addressed in a hand he at once recognised.
"Will you come and see me? I am at home after eight o'clock till the end
of the week, and all day on Sunday.
I. S."
No distinct pleasure was aroused in Waymark as he read this. As was
always the case for hours after he had left Maud's presence, her face
and voice lived with him to the exclusion of every other thought. There
was even something of repulsion in the feeling excited by his thus
having the memory of Ida brought suddenly before him; her face came as
an unwelcome intruder upon the calm, grave mood which always possessed
him on these evenings.
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