She opened the Prayer-book, after a long
hesitation, at the Marriage Service, shut it again before she had read a
line, and put it back hurriedly in one of the drawers. After turning the
key in the locks, she rose and walked to the window. "The horrible
sea!" she said, turning from it with a shudder of disgust--"the lonely,
dreary, horrible sea!"
She went back to the drawer, and took the Prayer-book out for the second
time, half opened it again at the Marriage Service, and impatiently
threw it back into the drawer. This time, after turning the lock, she
took the key away, walked with it in her hand to the open window, and
threw it violently from her into the garden. It fell on a bed thickly
planted with flowers. It was invisible; it was lost. The sense of its
loss seemed to relieve her.
"Something may happen on Friday; something may happen on Saturday;
something may happen on Sunday. Three days still!"
She closed the green shutters outside the window and drew the curtains
to darken the room still more. Her head felt heavy; her eyes were
burning hot. She threw herself on her bed, with a sullen impulse to
sleep away the time. The quiet of the house helped her; the darkness of
the room helped her; the stupor of mind into which she had fallen had
its effect on her senses; she dropped into a broken sleep.
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