He had lost control of himself, saying, ‘Now, will you get out of this house, you old scandalmonger, or I’ll take you by the shoulders and put you out!’ And he had thrown the front-door open. What a look she gave him as she passed out! At that moment the clock struck three and he remembered suddenly that the children were coming out of school at that moment. It would have been better if he had waited. But he couldn’t wait: he’d have gone mad if he had waited; and he recalled how he had jumped into the road, squeezed through the stile, and run across the field. ‘Why all this hurry?’ he had asked himself.
She was locking up the desks; the children went by him, curtseying, and he had to wait till the last one was past the door. Nora must have guessed his errand, for her face noticeably harde
