"I am afraid I am disturbing you," he said.

"I can wait while you finish." But she crumpled the paper in her hand.

She was trembling so much that she could hardly stand.
"It--doesn't matter," she said almost inaudibly.
He stood for a second or two in silence, then seated himself at the writing-table and took up a pen.
In the stillness that followed she moved away to the fire and stood before it.

Field wrote steadily without turning his head.

She stooped after a moment and dropped the crumpled paper into the blaze.