The child sobbed distractedly, she could not hear.

“I want — my — mother,” she wept.

“When you're undressed, you s'll go up to see your mother — when you're undressed, pet, when you've let Tilly undress you, when you're a little jewel in your nightie, love. Oh, don't you cry, don't you — ”

Brangwen sat stiff in his chair.

He felt his brain going tighter. He crossed over the room, aware only of the maddening sobbing.

“Don't make a noise,” he said.

And a new fear shook the child from the sound of his voice. She cried mechanically, her eyes looking watchful through her tears, in terror, alert to what might happen.