helen had a greeting ready for each turn of the road, but george did not appear. she looked for him at the side road to the farm, and she waited there for a while. she had thought he would be on the watch for her, and she had hoped for him. since they had to meet, let it be soon: let her heart learn to beat submissively again, and the mouth kissed by zebedee to take kisses from another. but he did not come, and later, when she had helped mildred caniper to bed, helen sat on the moor to waylay and welcome him, and make amends for her unfaithfulness.
the night was beautiful; the light wind had dropped, the sky was set with stars, and small, pale moths made clouds above the heather. when she shook a tuft of it, there came forth a sweet, dry smell. she looked in wonder on the beauty of the world. here, on the moor, there were such things to see and hear and smell that it would be strange if she could not find peace. in the town, it would be harder: it would be harder for zebedee, though he had his work and loved it as she loved the moor, and she caught her breath sharply as she remembered his white face. there were matters of which it was not wise to think too much, and what need was there when he wanted her to be content, when the stars and a slip of a new moon shone in a tender sky, and birds made stealthy noises, not to wake the world?
once more it seemed to her that men and women saw happiness and sorrow in a view too personal, and each individual too much isolated from the rest. here she sat, a tiny creature on the greatness of the moor, a mere heartbeat in a vast life. if the heart missed a beat, the life would still go on, yet it was her part to make the beat a strong and steady one.
she wanted george to come, but she had a new fear of him. she might have lived a thousand years since she had parted from him a few hours back, and her instinct was to run away as from a stranger, but she would sit there until he was quite close, and then she would call his name and put out her hand, the one that wore his ring, and he would pull her up and take her home. she bowed her head to her knees. well, already she had much that other people missed: that young man in the shop had not these little moths and the springing heather with purple flowers and the star that shone like a friend above her home.
the night grew darker: colour was sucked from the moor, and it lay as black as deep lake water, blacker than the sky. it was time that country folks were in their beds, and the brent farm lights went out as at a signal.
helen went slowly through the garden and up the stairs, and when she had undressed she sat beside her window, wondering why george had not come. surely she would have heard if any accident had befallen him?
the quiet of the night assured her that all was well: the poplars were concerned with their enduring effort to reach the sky; a cat went like a moving drop of ink across the lawn. she stretched out for her dressing gown and put it round her shoulders, and she sat there, leaning on the window ledge and looking into the garden until her eyelids dropped and resisted when she tried to raise them.
she had almost fallen asleep when she heard a familiar noise outside her door. she stood up and met george as he entered.
"i'm glad you've come." she put out a timid hand to touch him and had it brushed aside.
"out of my way!" he said, pushing past her.
she saw he had been drinking though he was not drunk. his eyes were red, and he looked at her as though he priced her, with such an expression of disdaining a cheap thing that she learnt, in that moment, the pain of all poor women dishonoured. yet she followed him and made him turn to her.
"what have you been doing?" she said. "i have been waiting for so long."
there came on his face the sneering look she had not lately seen, and in his throat he made noises that for a little while did not come to words.
"ah! i've been into town, too; you little devil, pranking yourself out, coming to me so soft and gentle—kissing—here!" he took her by the wrist and dragged the ring from her and made to throw it into the night. "but no," he said slowly. "no. i think not. come here again. you shall wear it; you shall wear it to your dying day."
"i'm willing to," she said. his arm was round her, hurting her. "tell me what's the matter, george."
he gripped her fiercely and let her go so that she staggered.
"get back! i don't want to touch you!" then he mimicked her. "'won't you ever learn to trust me?' i'd learnt. i'd have given you my soul to care for. i—i'd done it—and you took it to the doctor!"
"no," she said. "i took my own." she was shaking; her bare feet were ice cold. "george—"
"you lied about him! yes, you did! you who are forever talking about honesty!"
"i didn't lie. i didn't tell you the whole truth, but now i will, though i've never asked for any of your confessions. i shouldn't like to hear them. i suppose you saw me this afternoon?"
"ay, i did. i saw you turn and run like a rabbit to that man's house. i'd come to meet you, my god! i was happy. you'd my ring at last. i followed you. i waited. i saw you come out, white, shaking, the way you're shaking now." he dropped into a chair. "dirt! dirt!" he moaned.
she made a sad little gesture at that word and began to walk up and down the room. the grey dressing gown was slung about her shoulders like a shawl, and he watched the moving feet.
"and then you went and had a drink," she said. "yes. i don't blame you. that's what i was having, too. and my thirst is quenched. i'm not going to be thirsty any more. i had a long drink of the freshest, loveliest water, but i'll never taste it again. i'll never forget it either." for a time there was no sound but that of her bare feet on the bare floor. "what did you think i was doing there?" she whispered, and her pace grew faster.
his tone insulted her. "god knows!"
"oh, yes."
"kissing—i don't know. i don't know what you're equal to, with that smooth face of yours."
she halted in her march and stood before him. "i did kiss him. i'm glad. there is no one so good in the whole world."
she pressed her clasped hands against her throat. "i love him. i loved him before i promised to marry you. i love him still. no one could help doing that, i think. but it's different now. it has to be. i'm not his wife. i went to say—i went there, and i said good-bye to all that. i came back to you. you needn't be afraid—or jealous any more. i'm your wife, george, and i'll do my share. i promise." she started on her walk again, and still he watched the small, white feet.
"and i'm not outraged by what you've said," she went on in a voice he had not heard so coldly clear. "men like you are so ready with abuse. have you always been virtuous? you ask what you would never allow me to claim."
he looked up. "since i married you—since i loved you—and i never will."
she laughed a little. "and i won't either. that's another bargain, but i know—i know too much about temptation, about love, to call lovers by bad names. and if you don't, it's your misfortune, george. i think you'd better go home and think about it."
he made an uncertain movement. he was like a child, she thought; he had to be commanded or cajoled, and her heart softened towards him because he was dumb and helpless.
"let us be honest friends," she pleaded. "yes, honest, george. i know i've talked a lot of honesty, and i had no right; but now i think i have, because i've told you everything and we can start afresh. i thought i was better than you, but now i know i'm not, and i'm sorry, george."
he looked up. "helen—"
"well?" she was on her knees before him, and her hands were persuading his to hold them.
he muttered something.
"i didn't hear."
"i beg your pardon," he said again, and, as she heard the words, she laughed and cried out, "no, no! i don't want you to say that! you've to possess me. honour me, too, but always possess me!" she leaned back to look at him. "that's what you must do. you are that kind of man, so big and strong and—and stupid, george! love me enough, and it will be like being buried in good earth. can't you love me enough?" her eyes were luminous and tender. she was fighting for two lives, for more that might be born.
"buried? i don't know what you mean," he said; "but come you here!"
her face was crushed against him, and it was indeed as though she were covered by something dark and warm and heavy. she might hear beloved footsteps, now and then, but they would not trouble her. down there, she knew too much to be disturbed, too much to be hurt for ever by her lover's pain: he, too, would know a blessed burying.
it was not she who heard the opening of the bedroom door, but she felt herself being gently pushed from george's breast, and she had a strange feeling that some one was shovelling away the earth which she had found so merciful.
"no," she said. "don't. i like it."
"helen!" she heard george say, and she turned to see mildred caniper on the threshold.
"i heard voices," she said, looking a little dazed, but standing with her old straightness. "who is here? it's helen! it's—helen! oh, helen—you!" her face hardened, and her voice was the one of helen's childhood. "i am afraid i must ask for an explanation of this extraordinary conduct."
the words were hardly done before she fell heavily to the floor.
