Mr. and Mrs. Nash had been spending the afternoon in Arundel Park. When they returned to their rooms at Littlehampton they were met by the diminutive maid with a message.  
"If you please, Mr. Stephen Morgan of Cloverlea called."
 
"Mr.---- who?" asked Mr. Nash. Mrs. Nash changed colour. The maid repeated the visitor's name. "She must mean Morgan the butler; what does he mean by coming here?"
 
"I--I can't think."
 
She was conscious of that sudden sickness which she had experienced once before; all at once the room seemed to be whirling round and round. The maid went on.
 
"He said he'd call again; he couldn't say quite when, but he'd certainly call again before you left Littlehampton."
 
"Like his impudence! What on earth can the fellow mean? By the way, Louisa, have you seen a letter-case of mine lying about?"
 
"No, sir, that I haven't."
 
Mr. Nash went into the next room, hurriedly. So soon as he was through the door he saw the letter-case upon the mantelpiece, where Mr. Morgan had left it. The sight of it seemed to surprise him.
 
"Who put it there? I'll swear I didn't. Louisa, have you been in here since I went out?"
 
"No, sir; not once."
 
"Has Mrs. Lorrimer?"
 
"I don't think so, sir; she's been out; she only come in just before you did."
 
He was searching the letter-case, turning it literally inside out. Suddenly he went to the door.
 
"Louisa, come here!" Louisa came. He spoke to her in lowered tones, as if he did not wish what he said to be heard in the next room, where his wife still was. "Who was in when Mr. Morgan came?"
 
"If you please, sir, I was; Mrs. Lorrimer, she was out."
 
"Where you in all the time that he was here?"
 
"No, sir; I had to go out and do some errands."
 
"And was he alone in the house while you were gone?"
 
"Yes, sir; he was outside the front door when I came back; it was then he gave me the message about his calling again."
 
So surprising a look came on Mr. Nash's face that the girl shrunk back, almost as if she had been afraid that he would strike her. He went back into the bedroom, shutting the door with a bang. He stood glaring about him, as if beside himself with rage. Then, with an effort, he steadied himself. Again he turned the letter-case inside out, going carefully through the papers it contained. Then he searched the room so methodically that even a pin could hardly have escaped his notice, moving every article it contained, his wife's trunks, his own boxes, even turning down the bedclothes and looking under the pillows, going down on his knees to peer under the bed. When all his hunting came to nothing he leaned his elbows on the mantelpiece and shut his eyes, as if suffering physical pain.
 
In the next room his wife was fighting a fight of her own. So soon as he left her she dropped on to a chair, as if her legs refused her support. A curious change had come over her face, and her lips were twitching; she looked furtively about her, as if she was afraid of she knew not what. When she heard the bedroom door banged, and she knew that her husband had dismissed the maid, she called, "Louisa," softly; so softly that one wondered if she wished to be heard.
 
But Louisa did hear, appearing with a startled visage in the doorway.
 
"Who--who did Mr. Morgan ask for?"
 
The question was put so softly that it was nearly whispered; the speaker's tongue and lips seemed parched.
 
"Please, ma'am, he asked for you."
 
"For me? What--what did he say?"
 
"Please, ma'am, he said 'Is Mrs. Nash in?'"
 
"Mrs. Nash? You're sure he said Mrs. Nash?"
 
"Yes, ma'am, quite sure."
 
"And when you told him I wasn't in, did he ask for Mr. Nash?"
 
"No, ma'am; he said he'd wait."
 
"How--how long did he wait?"
 
"Maybe twenty minutes, maybe half-an-hour; please, ma'am, I couldn't say exactly."
 
"And did he seem angry?"
 
"No, ma'am; quite pleasant. He gave me a shilling as he was going."
 
"A shilling! Oh! Now tell me, exactly, what was the message he left."
 
"If you please, ma'am, he told me to tell you exactly what he said, so I took particular notice." She repeated word for word what Mr. Morgan had said; Mrs. Nash listening with singular intentness, as if her attention was fixed not so much on the actual words as on what was behind them. When the girl had finished she sat still, as if pondering. Louisa roused her. "If you please, ma'am, can I lay for supper?"
 
Mrs. Nash rose with a little jump.
 
"Supper! of course; how silly I am! I was quite forgetting about supper. Certainly, Louisa, you can lay for supper; I--I think I'm quite ready for it." When she went into the bedroom her husband was still standing with his elbows on the mantelpiece and his face to the wall. As she entered he looked round with a start; the pair stood looking at each other as if each was taken aback by something which was on the other's face. She spoke first, in a voice which seemed to tremble. "Herbert, what--what's the matter?"
 
"The matter?" He laughed, a forced laugh. "Nothing's the matter; why do you ask what's the matter?"
 
"You're--you're looking so strange."
 
"That's your imagination, my dear. What is the matter is that I've got a touch of headache--one of my mother's headaches; you remember what I've told you about the headaches she used to have. I fancy the sun was stronger than I thought."
 
"I didn't notice it; you said nothing about it."
 
"No; I didn't notice it at the time. I expect that what I want is my supper; it'll be better after I've had something to eat."
 
"Have you found your letter-case?"
 
"Oh yes, yes; I've found my letter-case; I must have dropped it out of my pocket as I was putting on my coat--very stupid of me; but I've found it all right. Anyhow there wasn't anything in it of very great consequence, so it wouldn't have mattered much if I hadn't."
 
It was a curious meal, that supper of theirs. It was as if ghosts sat with them at the table; phantoms of horror; one by his side, and one at hers, whose presence each hoped was hidden from the other. Conversation languished, and they were in general so talkative; the efforts they made to disguise their incapacity for speech were pathetic. Their appetites were as poor as their talking powers, and that although each had professed to be ready to make an excellent meal. He ate little, and what he did eat was with an obvious effort; she ate still less, each mouthful seemed to choke her. When the make-believe repast was at an end Mr. Nash got up.
 
"I'm afraid my headache isn't much better; I think I'll go for a turn on the front; the night air may do it good."
 
She also rose.
 
"It won't take me a minute to put on my hat; I'll come with you."
 
He was not so pleased at her suggestion as he might have been.
 
"I think, if you don't mind, I'll go alone; I don't feel as if I were in a mood for company."
 
She seemed hurt.
 
"Oh, Herbert, don't leave me behind! I won't keep you waiting; I'll come without my hat."
 
But he still professed unwillingness for her society, speaking almost roughly.
 
"Don't I tell you I'd sooner go alone? Can't you take a hint?"
 
It was the first time he had spoken to her like that since they had been married, which was not so very long ago. Had he struck her he could not have hurt her more. When he had gone, without another word, or a kiss, or a sign of tenderness, she sat staring at the nearly untouched meal, and shivered, although the night was warm. What had happened to Herbert, to have produced such a change in his manner? Could Morgan have left a note for him, or a message for his own private ear; or dropped a hint; or communicated with him without her knowledge? As Louisa cleared away the supper things she cross-examined her. The girl told all that she had to tell again; Elaine could find nothing in her story which would account for the singularity of her husband's demeanour; but on one point she fastened, when the maid told her that she had left the visitor in the house alone.
 
With Mr. Morgan in sole possession of the premises, Elaine saw instant possibilities. What might he not have been doing while Louisa was out? He might--he certainly might have intruded himself in her bedroom; if he had gone so far he might have gone much farther. At the thought of what he might have done she felt inclined to shake Louisa for giving him the chance of doing it; instead, however, of assaulting the maid she hurried off to learn, if she could, what he had done.
 
Apparently nothing. So far as she could perceive everything in the bedroom remained ............