Think well, Anne, before you take action in
this matter. I do not seek to persuade you to either course. Only let me
warn you that, whatever your choice, I shall treat it as final. You must
realize that fully before you choose."
He was at the head of the stairs as he ended. Without a pause he began to
descend, and she counted his footsteps with a wildly beating heart till
they ceased in the room below.
CHAPTER XIV
She was alone. In a silence intense she lifted her head at last, and knew
that for half an hour she was safe from interruption.
Far away over the snow she heard a distant church clock tolling midnight.
It ceased, and in the silence she thought she heard her stretched nerves
cracking one by one. Soon--very soon--she would have to go down to him
and fight the final battle for her freedom. But she would wait till the
very last minute. She would spend the whole of the brief time accorded to
her in mustering all her strength. He had swept her pride utterly out of
her reach. But surely that was not her only weapon.
What of her hatred--that hatred that had driven her to this mad flight
with Jerry? Surely out of that she could fashion a shield that all his
savagery could not pierce. Moreover, he had given her his word to abide
by her decision whatever it might be, so long as she could convince him
of that same hatred that had once blazed so fiercely within her.
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