It was midnight when Ann Lytton, still motionless, still chilling and flushing as thought followed thought through her confused mind, found herself in the center of her dark room. The knock that had roused her to things outside sounded again on her door, low and cautious.
"Well, what do you want, Nora?"--summoning a sternness for the query.
"I ... I want to come in; I want to tell you somethin' ... if you'll let me."
Ann calculated a moment, but the quality of the other woman's voice, supplicating, uncertain, swung the balance and she unlocked the door, opening it wide. Nora stood in her long white gown, head hung, fingers nervously intertwining before her.
A pitiable humility was about the girl, and on sight of it Ann's manner changed.
She stepped forward, took her by the hand and gently urged her into the room, closing the door.
"Sit on the bed, Nora, while I light the lamp."
"Oh, M's. Lytton, please don't ..."--with an uneasy movement. "I'd rather ... not have to look at you...."
"Why, if you want it that way, of course, Nora. Sit down here. Aren't you cold?"
She took a shawl from its hook, threw it across the other's shoulders and sat down on the bed, drawing Nora to her side. An awkward silence followed, then came the sound of Nora's crying, lifted to a pitch just above a sigh.
"Don't, Nora! Please, don't! What is it, now? Tell me ... do tell me," Ann pleaded, growing stronger, of better balance, feeling some of her genuine assurance returning.
"I ... I lied to you. I ..." Nora began and stopped.
Ann uttered no word; just inhaled very slowly and squared her shoulders with relief.
"I ... was jealous of you. When I saw him with his arms around you this afternoon, I ... couldn't stand it. I had to do somethin'. I was drove to it."
She brushed the damp hair back from her forehead and cleared her throat. She clutched Ann's one hand in both hers and turned to talk closely into her face.
"I ... it wasn't all lies. That part about me, about Charley Ling's, was true. It was true that Bruce took me out of there, too, but not for what you think. I ... I was pretty bad for a young girl, but I never knew much different until I knew Bruce ... I didn't know much.
"I was at Ling's. I didn't lie about that," she repeated stoically, baring her shame in an attempt to atone for her former behavior. "I'd been there quite a while, when one night when the' was whiskey an' men an' hell, he come....