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True, I can say all I wish to say to him in the morning, and to quite as good purpose. But " Wilkinson, whose steps had been growing more and more deliberate, stopped. For some time he stood, in a thoughtful attitude then slowly returned. His hand was in his pocket, his dead-latch key between his fingers, and his foot upon the marble sill of his door.
It caught her dress in closing, but she was unaware of that for a moment, as she stood still on the step, remembering with a sudden pang, that was more than half regret, that the deed was done beyond recall, for the dead-latch was down, and she had no key with which to effect an entrance; she must go on now, whether she would or not.
Momently I grew cooler, more determined, more calm, more desperate, more regardless of consequences; and now the culmination of endeavor approached in the shape of the sound of stamping feet upon the icy platform of the steps which they had softly ascended, and the uncertain fitting of a dead-latch key in its dark socket, the feeling for the knob with half-frozen fingers, and finally the sudden and violent throwing forward and open of the door into the darkened vestibule, for I had drawn the cord at the first symptoms of Gregory's advent, which yet took me by surprise.
His hand was in his pocket, in search of his dead-latch key, when he suddenly retreated from the door, muttering to himself "I'm not going to stand a curtain lecture! There now! I'll wait until she's asleep." Saying which, he drew a cigar and match-box from his pocket, and lighting the former, placed it between his lips, and moved leisurely down the street.
She was near the corner of the street, when the sound of a closing door fell upon her ear, and the thought that the wind might have shut her own door upon her, filled her with sudden alarm. Running back, she found that what she had feared was too true. She was alone in the street, half-dressed and with her head uncovered, and the door, which closed with a dead-latch, shut against her.
And do you know where he has gone?" "No, ma'am. He passed on out of sight." A low moan escaped the mother's lips at this intelligence. A few moments she stood silent, and then placed her hand upon the bell-pull and rung for admittance. "Is the door locked?" asked the watchman, manifesting surprise. "No; the wind blew it to, and it has become fastened with the dead-latch."
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