"
"I will go and see," I said, and explored M'Leod's new-built
servants' wing. It was in the servants' hall that I unearthed the
M'Leod family, bursting with anxiety.
"Tea for three, quick," I said. "If you ask me any questions now,
I shall have a fit!" So Mrs. M'Leod got it, and I was butler,
amid murmured apologies from Baxter, still smiling and
self-absorbed, and the cold disapproval of Miss Mary, who thought
the pattern of the china vulgar. However, she ate well, and even
asked me whether I would not like a cup of tea for myself.
They went away in the twilight--the twilight that I had once
feared. They were going to an hotel in London to rest after the
fatigues of the day, and as their fly turned down the drive, I
capered on the door step, with the all-darkened house behind me.
Then I heard the uncertain feet of the M'Leods and bade them not
to turn on the lights, but to feel--to feel what I had done; for
the Shadow was gone, with the dumb desire in the air. They drew
short, but afterwards deeper, breaths, like bathers entering
chill water, separated one from the other, moved about the hall,
tiptoed upstairs, raced down, and then Miss M'Leod, and I believe
her mother, though she denies this, embraced me.
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