CHAPTER XX 273
" You have passed a strange night , Jane ."
" Yes , sir ."
" And it has made you look pale -- were you afraid when I left you alone with Mason ?"
" I was afraid of some one coming out of the inner room ."
" But I had fastened the door -- I had the key in my pocket : I should have been a careless shepherd if I had left a lamb -- my pet lamb -- so near a wolf ' s den , unguarded : you were safe ."
" Will Grace Poole live here still , sir ?"
" Oh yes ! don ' t trouble your head about her -- put the thing out of your thoughts ."
" Yet it seems to me your life is hardly secure while she stays ." " Never fear -- I will take care of myself ." " Is the danger you apprehended last night gone by now , sir ?"
" I cannot vouch for that till Mason is out of England : nor even then . To live , for me , Jane , is to stand on a crater-crust which may crack and spue fire any day ."
" But Mr . Mason seems a man easily led . Your influence , sir , is evidently potent with him : he will never set you at defiance or wilfully injure you ."
" Oh , no ! Mason will not defy me ; nor , knowing it , will he hurt me -- but , unintentionally , he might in a moment , by one careless word , deprive me , if not of life , yet for ever of happiness ."