Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 1 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/553

 but he thought still more that, although the fetid interior of a high-nestling châlet may offer a convenient refuge from an Alpine tempest, there was no possible music in the universe so sweet as the sound of Roderick's voice. At midnight, from his window, through the ebb of the tide, he made out a star and immediately went below and out into the gallery. The rain had ceased, the cloud-masses showed gaps and the gaps cold points of light. In a few minutes he heard a step behind him and, turning, saw Mary Garland. He asked about Mrs. Hudson and learned that she was sleeping, exhausted by her long tension. Mary's eyes kept sounding the night, but she said nothing to cast doubt on the idea of Roderick's having found a refuge. Rowland noticed it and knew this assurance then for a matter as to which he would be held responsible. There was something she further wished to learn, and a question presently revealed it. "What made him start on a long walk so suddenly?" she asked. "I saw him at eleven o'clock, and then he meant to go to Engelberg and sleep."

"On his way to Interlaken!" Rowland said.

"Yes," she answered under cover of the darkness.

"We had some talk," said Rowland, "and he seemed, for the day, to have given up Interlaken."

"Did you dissuade him?"

"Not exactly. We discussed another question, which for the time appeared to have superseded his plan."

Mary was silent; after which, "May I ask whether your discussion was violent?" she went on. 519