Involuntarily she leaned towards him and put out her hand to touch his. But he shrank from it as if it had been burning iron, and said again,

`Leave me.'

Maggie was not conscious of a decision as she turned away from that gloomy averted face - and walked out of the room: it was like an automatic action that fulfils a forgotten intention. What came after? A sense of stairs descended as if in a dream - of flagstones - of a chaise and horses standing - then a street, and a turning into another street where a stage-coach was standing, taking in passengers - and the darting thought that that coach would take her away, perhaps towards home. But she could ask nothing yet: she only got into the coach.

Home - where her mother and brother were - Philip - Lucy - the scene of her very cares and trials - was the haven towards which her mind tended - the sanctuary where sacred relics lay - where she would be rescued from more falling. The thought of Stephen was like a horrible throbbing pain which yet, as such pains do, seemed to urge all other thoughts into activity. But among her thoughts, what others would say and think of her conduct was hardly present. Love and deep pity and remorseful anguish left no room for that.

The coach was taking her to York - farther away from home, but she did not learn that until she was set down in the old city at midnight. It was no matter: she could sleep there, and start home the next day. She had her purse in her pocket, with all her money in it - a bank-note and a sovereign: she had kept it in her pocket from forgetfulness, after going out to make purchases the day before yesterday.

Did she lie down in the gloomy bedroom of the old inn that night with her will bent unwaveringly on the path of penitent sacrifice? - The great struggles of life are not so easy as that - the great problems of life are not so clear. - In the darkness of that night she saw Stephen's face turned towards her in passionate, reproachful misery - She lived through again all the tremulous delights of his presence with her that made existence an easy floating in a stream of joy instead of a quiet resolved endurance and effort: - the love she had renounced came back upon her with a cruel charm - she felt herself opening her arms to receive it once more and then it seemed to slip away and fade and vanish, leaving only the dying sound of a deep, thrilling voice that said, `Gone - for ever gone.'