Amid the full
disaster and regret, she was glad to be alive. She could not help
exulting in the dreadful moment.
She closed the sash and began to dress, seldom glancing at Louis,
who slept and dreamed and muttered. When she was dressed she looked
carefully in the drawer where he deposited certain articles from his
pockets, in order to find the bundle of notes left by Julian. In vain!
Then she searched for his bunch of keys (which ultimately she found
in one of his pockets) and unlocked his private drawer. The bundle
of notes lay there. She removed it, and hid it away in one of her
own secret places. After she had made preparations to get ready some
invalid's food at short notice, she went downstairs.
VII
She went downstairs without any definite purpose--merely because
activity of some kind was absolutely necessary to her. The clock
in the lobby showed dimly a quarter past five. In the chilly twilit
kitchen the green-lined silver-basket lay on the table in front of the
window, placed there by a thoughtful and conscientious Mrs. Tams. On
the previous morning Rachel had given very precise orders about the
silver (as the workaday electro-plate was called), but owing to the
astounding events of the day the orders had not been executed.
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