The fire is lit, and the room is warm.

There is food ready in case she should care for it.

I have plenty of light in the room, so that through the aperture where I have not fully drawn the curtain there may be light to guide her.
Oh, how the time drags! The clock has struck midnight.

One, two! Thank goodness, it will shortly be dawn, and the activity of the day may begin! Work may again prove, in a way, to be an anodyne.

In the meantime I must write on, lest despair overwhelm me.
Once during the night I thought I heard a footstep outside.