"Fetch me the blanket from your bed," he called softly.
She guessed at once his meaning and tied one end of her blanket to the foot of her bed, throwing the other end out of the window, where it dragged limply above his head. This time he had holding power, and, swinging himself to the low roof of the jutting porch, he was able to wedge his body between it and the walls of the house, his feet gripping the slates, and in this manner haul himself up the porch on a level with her window.
He swung his legs over, and straddled the porch, his face close to hers now, the blanket hanging loosely beside him. Mary struggled with the framework of the window, but her efforts were useless. The window opened only a foot or so; he could not enter the room without smashing the glass.
"I shall have to talk to you here," he said. "Come closer, where I can see you." She knelt on the floor of her room, her face at the window gap, and they stared at one another for a moment without speaking. He looked worn, and his eyes were hollow, like the eyes of one who has not slept and has endured fatigue. There were lines about his mouth she had not noticed before, nor did he smile.
"I owe you an apology," he said at length. "I deserted you without excuse at Launceston on Christmas Eve. You can forgive me or not, as you feel; but the reason for it — that I can't give you. I'm sorry."
This attitude of harshness did not suit him; he appeared to have changed much, and the change was unwelcome to her.
"I was anxious for your safety," she said. "I traced you to the White Hart, and there I was told you had entered a carriage with some gentleman; nothing beyond that, no message, no word of explanation. Those men were there, standing before the fire, the horse dealer who spoke with you in the market square. They were horrible men, curious, and I mistrusted them. I wondered if the theft of the pony had been discovered. I was wretched and worried. I blame you for nothing. Your business is your own."
She was hurt by his manner. She had expected anything but this. When she saw him first, in the yard outside her window, she thought of him only as the man she loved, who had come now to her in the night, seeking her presence. His coolness damped her flame, and she withdrew inside herself at once, trusting that he had not seen the blank disappointment in her face.
He did not even ask how she returned that night, and his indifference stunned her. "Why are you locked in your room?" he questioned.
She shrugged her shoulders, and her voice was flat and dull when she replied:
"My uncle does not care for eavesdroppers. He fears I should wander in the passage and stumble upon his secrets. You appear to have the same dislike of intrusion. To ask you why you are here tonight would be an offence, I suppose?"
"Oh, be as bitter as you like; I deserve it," he flashed suddenly. "I know what you think of me. One day I may be able to explain, if you're not out of my reach by then. Be a man for the moment, and send your hurt pride and your curiosity to hell. I'm treading delicate ground, Mary, and one false step will finish me. Where is my brother?"
"He told us he would spend the night in the kitchen. He is afraid of something or someone; the windows and doors are barred, and he has his gun."
Jem laughed harshly. "I don't doubt he's afraid. He'll be more frightened still before many hours are passed, I can tell you that. I came here to see him, but if he sits there with a gun across his knee I can postpone my visit until tomorrow, when the shadows are gone."
"Tomorrow may be too late."
"What do you mean?"
"He intends to leave Jamaica Inn at nightfall."
"Are you telling me the truth?"
"Why should I lie to you now?"
Jem was silent. The news had evidently come as a surprise to him, and he was turning it over in his mind. Mary watched him, tortured by doubt and indecision; she was thrown back now upon her old suspicion of him. He was the visitor expected by her uncle, and therefore hated by him and feared. He was the man who held the threads of her uncle's life between his hands. The sneering face of the pedlar returned to her again, and his words, that so provoked the landlord to a flame of fury: "Listen here, Joss Merlyn: do you take your orders from one above you?" The man whose wits made service of the landlord's strength, the man who had hidden in the empty room.
She thought again of the laughing, carefree Jem who had driven her to Launceston, who had swung hands with her in the market square, who had kissed her and held her. Now he was grave and silent, his face in shadow. The idea of dual personality troubled her, and frightened her as well. He was like a stranger to her tonight, obsessed by some grim purpose she could not understand. Warning him of the landlord's intended flight had been a false move on her part; it might confound the issue of her plans. Whatever Jem had done or intended to do, whether he was false and treacherous and a murderer of men, she loved him, in the weakness of her flesh, and owed him warning.
"You'd best have a care for yourself when you see your brother," she said. "His mood is dangerous; whoever interferes with his plans now risks his life. I tell you this for your own safety."
"I have no fear of Joss, nor ever had."
"Perhaps not; but what if he is afraid of you?"
To this he said nothing, but, leaning forward suddenly, he looked into her face and touched the scratch that ran from her forehead to her chin.
"Who did this?" he said sharply, turning from the scratch to the bruise on her cheek. She hesitated a moment and then answered him:
"I got them Christmas Eve."
The gleam in his eye told her at once that he understood, and had knowledge of the evening, and because of it was here now at Jamaica Inn.
"You were there with them, on the shore?" he whispered.
She nodded, watching him carefully, wary of speech, and for answer he cursed aloud, and, reaching forward, smashed the pane of glass with his fist, careless of the splitting sound of glass and the blood that spouted immediately from his hand. The gap in the window was wide enough now for entrance, and he had climbed into the room and was beside her before she realised what he had done. He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed, and laid her down upon it; and, fumbling in the darkness for a candle, he found it at length and lit it, and came back to the bed and knelt beside it, throwing the light upon her face. He traced the bruises with his finger down her neck, and when she winced with the pain he drew in his breath quickly, and again she heard him swear. "I might have spared you this," he said; and then, blowing out the light, he sat down beside her on the bed and reached for her hand, which he held a moment, tight, and then gave back to her.
"God Almighty, why did you go with them?" he said.
"They were crazy with drink. I don't think they knew what they were doing. I could no more have stood against them than a child. There were a dozen of them or more, and my uncle… he led them. He and the pedlar. If you know about it, why do you ask me? Don't make me remember. I don't want to remember."
"How much have they hurt you?"
"Bruises, scratches — you can see for yourself. I tried to escape, and I grazed my side. They caught me again, of course. They bound my hands and feet down on the shore, and tied sacking over my mouth so that I could not scream. I saw the ship come through the mist, and I could do nothing — alone there in the wind and the rain. I had to watch them die."
She broke off, her voice trembling, and she turned on her side, her face in her hands. He made no move towards her; he sat there silently on the bed beside her, and she felt him far from her, wrapped in secrecy.