sober now. Come indoors and have a drink. Aaron Sisson negatively allowed himself to be led off. The others followed in silence,
leaving the tree to flicker the night through. The stranger stumbled at the open window -door. Mind the step, said Jim affectionately.
They crowded to the fire, which was still hot. The newcomer looked round vaguely. Jim took his bowler hat and gave him a chair. He sat without
looking round, a remote, abstract look on his face. He was very pale, and seemed-inwardly absorbed. The party threw off their wraps and sat around. Josephine
turned to Aaron Sisson, who sat with a glhi of whiskey in his hand, rather slack in his chair, in his thickish overcoat. He did not want to drink. His hair was blond,
quite tidy, his mouth and chin handsome but a little obstinate, his eyes inscrutable. His pallor was not natural to him. Though he kept the appearance of a smile, underneath
he was hard and opposed. He did not wish to be with these people,and yet, mechanically, he stayed. âdo you hil quite well? josephine asked him.
He looked at her quickly. Me? he said. He smiled faintly. âYes, Im all right.Then he dropped his head again and seemed oblivious.
âTell us your name, said Jim affectionately. The stranger looked up. My names Aaron Sisson, if its anything to you, he
said. Jim began to grin. Its a name I dont know,he said.Then he named all the party present. But the stranger hardly heeded, though his eyes looked curiously
from one to the other, slow, shrewd, clairvoyant. Were you on your way home? asked Robert, huffy. The stranger lifted his head and looked at him.
âHome! he repeated. âNo. The other road He indicated the direction with his head, and smiled faintly. âBeldover? inquired Robert.
Yes He had dropped his head again, as if he did not want to look at them. to josephine, the pale, imphiive, blank-seeming face,
the blue eyes with the smile which wasnt a smile, and the continual dropping of the well-shaped head was curiously affecting. She wanted to cry.
âAre you a miner? Robert asked, de haute en bas . cried Josephine. She had looked at his hands.Mens checkweighman replied Aaron. He had emptied his
glhi. he putit on the table. âHave another? said Jim, who was attending fixedly, with curious absorption, to the stranger.No,criedJosephine, âno more.
Aaron looked at Jim, then at her, and smiled slowly, with remote bitterness. Then he lowered his head again. His hands were loosely clasped
between his knees. âWhat about the wife? said Robert the young lieutenant. What about the wife and kiddies? Youre a married man,
arent you? The sardonic look of the stranger rested on the subaltern. Yes, he said. Wont they be expecting you? said Robert, trying to
keep his temper and his tone of authority. âI expect they will Then youd better be getting along, hadnt you?The eyes of the intruder rested all the time on the .
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