This interpretation of his stay Bayne had
not foreseen for one moment. His whole being revolted against the
assumption--that he should languish again at the feet of this traitress;
that he should open once more his heart to be the target of her poisonous
arrows; that he should drag his pride, his honest self-respect, in the
dust of humiliation! How could they be so dull, so dense, as to harbor
such a folly? The thought stung him with an actual venom; it would not
let him sleep; and when toward dawn he fell into a troubled stupor, half
waking, half dreaming, the torpid state was so pervaded with her image,
the sound of her voice, that he wrested himself from it with a conscious
wrench and rose betimes, doubtful if, in the face of this preposterous
persuasion, he could so command his resolution as to continue his stay as
he had planned.
III.
On descending the stairs, Bayne found the fire newly alight in the hall,
burning with that spare, clear brilliancy that the recent removal of
ashes imparts to a wood fire.
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