They stood together high up in the darkness, looking at the lights scattered on the night before them, handfuls of glittering points, villages lying high and low on the dark, here and there.
"Like treading among the stars," he said, with a quaky laugh.
Then he took her in his arms, and held her fast.

She moved aside her mouth to ask, dogged and low: "What time is it ?" "It doesn't matter," he pleaded thickly.
"Yes it does--yes! I must go!" "It's early yet," he said.
"What time is it ?" she insisted.
All round lay the black night, speckled and spangled with lights.
"I don't know." She put her hand on his chest, feeling for his watch.

He felt the joints fuse into fire.

She groped in his waistcoat pocket, while he stood panting.

In the darkness she could see the round, pale face of the watch, but not the figures.