"I had no thought to hurt you," she said, and her voice trembled, and it
was not with fear or any pain. Wogan took a step towards her and checked
himself. He spoke sharply between clenched teeth.
"Lock your door," said he.
The curtain between them was down. Wogan had patched and patched it
before; but it was torn down now, and they had seen each other without
so much as that patched semblance of a screen to veil their eyes.
Clementina did not answer him or raise her head. She went quietly into
her room. Wogan did not move until she had locked the door.
Then he disposed himself for the night. He sat down across the top step
of the stairs with his back propped against the passage wall. Facing him
was the door of Clementina's room, on his left hand the passage with the
oil lamp burning on a bracket, stretched to the house-wall; on his right
the stairs descended straight for some steps, then turned to the left
and ran down still within view to a point where again they turned
outwards into the courtyard. Wogan saw to the priming of his pistols and
laid them beside him. He looked out to his right over the low-roofed
buildings opposite, and saw the black mountains with their glimmering
crests, and just above one spur a star which flashed with a particular
brightness. He was very tired and very cold; he drew his cloak about
him; he leaned back against the wall and watched that star. So long as
he saw that, he was awake, and therefore he watched it. At what time
sleep overtook him he could never discover. It seemed to him always that
he did not even for a second lose sight of that star. Only it dilated,
it grew brighter, it dropped towards earth, and he was not in any way
surprised. He was merely pleased with it for behaving in so attractive
and natural a way. Then, however, the strange thing happened. When the
star was hung in the air between earth and sky and nearer to the earth,
it opened like a flower and disclosed in its bright heart the face of a
girl, which was yet brighter. And that girl's face, with the broad low
brows and the dark eyes and the smile which held all earth and much of
heaven, stooped and stooped out of fire through the cool dark towards
him until her lips touched his. It was then that he woke, quietly as was
his wont, without any start, without opening his eyes, and at once he
was aware of someone breathing.