Rachel, according to her own impression the next morning, had no sleep during that night. The striking of the hall clock could not be heard in the bedroom with the door closed, but it could be felt as a faint, distinct concussion¹; and she had thus noted² every hour, except four o'clock, when daylight had come and the street lamp had been put out. She had deliberately⁴ feigned⁵ sleep as Louis entered the room, and had maintained the soft, regular breathing of a sleeper⁶ until long after he was in bed. She did not wish to talk; she could not have talked with any safety.

 

Her brain was occupied much by the strange and emotional episode of Julian's confession⁷, but still more by the situation of her husband in the affair. Julian's story had precisely⁸ corroborated⁹ one part of Mrs. Maldon's account of her actions on the evening when the bank-notes had disappeared. Little by little that recital¹⁰ of Mrs. Maldon's had been discredited¹¹, and at length cast aside as no more important than the delirium¹² of a dying creature; it was an inconvenient¹³ story, and would only fit in with the alternative theories that money had wings and could fly on its own account, or that there had been thieves in the house. Far easier to assume that Mrs. Maldon in some

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