Hepworth there seems to
have sprung up a close friendship. Young Hepworth, the husband, was
always charming, and evidently took great pains to make himself
agreeable. But with regard to him they had the feeling that he was
never altogether at his ease. They described him--though that, of
course, was after the event--as having left upon them the impression
of a haunted man.
There was one occasion in particular. It was about ten o'clock.
The Jetsons had been spending the evening with the Hepworths, and
were just on the point of leaving, when there came a sudden, clear
knock at the door. It turned out to be Jetson's foreman, who had to
leave by an early train in the morning, and had found that he needed
some further instructions. But the terror in Hepworth's face was
unmistakable. He had turned a look towards his wife that was almost
of despair; and it had seemed to the Jetsons--or, talking it over
afterwards, they may have suggested the idea to each other--that
there came a flash of contempt into her eyes, though it yielded the
next instant to an expression of pity. She had risen, and already
moved some steps towards the door, when young Hepworth had stopped
her, and gone out himself. But the curious thing was that,
according to the foreman's account, Hepworth never opened the front
door, but came upon him stealthily from behind.
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