Phyllis Bottome

“ Edward Lockett was full of ideas. His tiny bungalow on the headland of the cliff, with the rocks and the sea in the garden, was one of them. A long time ago the farm in which his wife lived, a mile away, was another. He had not been able to unite the two. His wife was one of those capable women, without sympathy, who fall by accident into marriages with literary men.
She made him comfortable, but it is a great mistake to suppose that comfort is all that a man of Edward Lockett's type needs. He needed a woman to make him uncomfortable as well.
Rosamund fulfilled this further need. ”

“ Rosamund was amazed at the immensity of her own feelings. Of course she had always said that love was the strongest force in the world; but still it was a little surprising that, with nothing going on, she was n't in the least bored. It seemed to her as if she and the earth and Lockett had all been made for this one perfect consummation. ”

“ Edward had never been so late before. It was Sunday, and the woman who looked after the house had cleaned up early and left them for the day; she must have passed close by Rosamund while she slept.
The first change in a definite habit is terrible to lovers. Rosamund felt as if her perfect world had suddenly been guilty of a flaw ”

“ Then Rosamund heard her own voice; it sounded strangely flat and weak.
"There's a man down there at the bungalow taken very ill," she gasped. "I want help."
"Go back and set the big kettle to boiling," said Mrs. Lockett. "I 'll be with you in a few minutes." She hurriedly opened the gate, gathered up her black skirts, and ran swiftly along the path toward the farm-house. Rosamund called after her, but the woman did not stop or even turn her head. The world was just as empty as it had been before. It did not seem possible to Rosamund to go back to the bungalow. ”

“ He did not speak to her at all, but his eyes looked less hopelessly urgent.
"As soon as the water boils, fill all those bottles you 'll find under the dresser and bring them in," said Mrs. Lockett. "There's some oxygen in the scullery, too; I always keep some handy. Before it gets too hot pour some of that water into the cylinder; here it is in the cupboard." Rosamund obeyed her. It occurred to her now that Edward was n't, after all, so very ill. ”

“ She asked him; she spoke very calmly and plainly. She felt vaguely that she ought to speak in a whisper in a sick-room, but this hardly resembled a sick-room. Besides, his breathing was so loud that he could n't have heard her if she had whispered. His breathing was a most peculiar sound ”