DARK HESTER
minded her of the way he had cut down the trellis. And afterwards she leaned on his arm for the dark walk home.
They met nobody. The night was still and cloudy; but a few faint stars showed here and there in the darker spaces above them. A sheep bleated behind a hedge, and, as they approached Oddley Green, they heard the owls hoot from the elms. They paused before the road reached the first cottage. Till then they had not spoken. ‘You can go alone now?’ said Ingpen.
‘Perfectly. Thanks so much,’ said Monica. They might have met that day for the first time. ‘You will always let me know where you are.’
‘Shall I?’
‘Yes. Always please. I will come to you if you send.’
‘You mean if I am dying?’ She felt his grim smile in the question.
‘Yes. If you are dying.’
‘And if you are dying—will you send for me?’
‘I am afraid not.—No; I can’t promise that. I shouldn’t be alone.’
‘Well.’ He took her hand. ‘So it is good-bye.’
‘It is good-bye.’
269
