Jean walked the whole way back to Coburg Square. She was numb, spent with misery. For the first time hope, that illusive yet infinitely comforting and uplifting companion, had left her side, and she felt tonight as if he had never been there. The knowledge that she had failed to secure anything that really mattered by what now seemed to her an absurd and inglorious adventure added to the load of misery and discouragement she was now carrying.
She made up her mind to go back to Terriford early tomorrow morning, as the need for make-believe was past.
It was nearly eleven o’clock when she reached the deserted square. Quietly she turned the old-fashioned latchkey in the big box lock. The hall was in darkness, but under the ailing lodger’s door ran a thin streak of light. Did the poor man nev
