It is probable that, if Kirk had happened to ask him the time at that
moment, or indeed addressed him at all, he would have screamed for the
police.
The mystery of childbirth and the wonder of it obsessed Kirk as time
crept on. And still more was he conscious of the horrible dread that
was gathering within him. Ruth's unvarying cheerfulness was to him
almost uncanny. None of the doubts and fears which blackened his life
appeared to touch her. Once he confided these to his friend, the little
doctor, and was thoroughly bullied by him for his foolishness. But in
spite of ridicule the fear crept back, cringingly, like a whipped dog.
And then, time moving on its leisurely but businesslike fashion, the
day arrived, and for the first time in his life Kirk knew what fear
really meant. All that he had experienced till now had, he saw, been a
mild apprehension, not worthy of a stronger name. His flesh crawled
with the thoughts which rose in his mind like black bubbles in a pond.
There were moments when the temptation to stupefy himself with drink
was almost irresistible.
It was his utter uselessness that paralysed him. He seemed destined to
be of no help to Ruth at just those crises when she needed him most.
When she was facing her father with the news of the marriage he had not
been at her side. And now, when she was fighting for her life, he could
do nothing but pace the empty, quiet studio and think.
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