He had strolled on , and was standing above a grass hollow in which the moonlight lay like water .sx In fact , at the first glance Jeremy had fancied himself looking down at a little pool , but there was something more startling and unexpected than the effect of the moonlight .sx He saw a white figure move out from under the shade of the trees , and descend into the grassy hollow .sx Someone from the hotel , no doubt .sx But a moment later he knew that the white figure did not belong to Camois Court .sx A ghost ?sx He was aware of a little chilly tremor along his spine , for the figure was approaching him ; it seemed to glide up out of the hollow straight for the place where he was standing .sx No ; it was no ghost , but something even more unexpected and perplexing , a woman walking in a pair of white silk pyjamas .sx Jermyn stood very still , and with the stillness of a man who knew the jungle and wild life .sx For the figure was unusual .sx It approached ; he was aware of its little , dark , bobbed head , and its set and motionless eyes , and an air of dreaming rigidity .sx The explanation flashed upon him .sx " Good Lord , she's walking in her sleep .sx " Almost he held his breath .sx A somnambulist , pale and distraught !sx She passed quite close , and her gaze seemed to go through and beyond him .sx He turned and watched , and then followed , wondering whence she had come and wither she was going .sx He remembered the river at the foot of the hotel grounds , and instantly his curiosity was tinged with a feeling of responsibility .sx She walked among the trees as though sensing them as the trees of another world .sx The ground descended , and between the dark foliage of a cedar and an oak Jermyn saw the gleam of water .sx Yes , she was heading for the river .sx What was he to do ?sx Wake her ?sx But as the moonlit vista broadened he saw a white shape lying by the bank , a house-boat moored close in , with a gangway leading to it .sx The sleep-walker descended towards the boat , and Jermyn , quickening his pace so that he should be near at hand should she walk blindly into the river , saw her go straight towards the gangway .sx Marvelling , he stood still to watch .sx He saw her walk unhesitatingly across the gangway , and disappear into the house-boat .sx " Well I'm damned !sx Was she asleep ?sx " He walked silently to the edge of the river , and standing close to the white boat , listened .sx The stillness of the night was broken by a familiar sound , the stridor of a man snoring .sx Jermyn was piqued .sx The next day happened to be a Sunday , though the Sabbath made no difference to the Camois Court Hotel , save that there were ices for dinner .sx Jermyn was an early riser .sx He went out to have a look at that house-boat as though to assure himself of its existence .sx It existed .sx In fact it was very much awake , and Jermyn surprised a fat little man towelling himself in the early sunlight on the boat's poop .sx He had been bathing , and rotund and glistening he seemed to salute the dawn .sx The crown of his head was bald ; the calves of his legs very round and solid .sx Jermyn saw nothing of the girl , but he observed the name of the house-boat painted in black below the row of pink-curtained windows Ain't She Sweet .sx So that was the atmosphere !sx The rotund little person with the bath towel looked like it .sx Pirouetting .sx he discovered Jermyn on the bank , and with no sign of being disconcerted , greeted him .sx " Good morning , sir .sx " Jermyn retaliated .sx " Good morning .sx " " Bit fresh for a plunge , but bootiful .sx " His lips rounded themselves to the adjective .sx Obviously he was one of those very cheerful , childlike persons with a perfect digestion , fat legs , and no spiritual qualms .sx He radiated the obese and the obvious .sx He was the sort of man who snored exultantly .sx Had not Jermyn heard him ?sx " You take things early .sx " The owner of Ain't She Sweet beamed upon him , and proceeded to get back into a suit of orange and purple pyjamas .sx " Rather .sx Early bird .sx And the worm , too , sir .sx If you are up half an hour before the other fellow you get the goods .sx " With an air of radiance he disappeared within to dress , and Jermyn strolled back towards the hotel , meditating upon matrimony or whatever it was in such a case , and just how a woman bore with it , and why she walked in her sleep .sx The fellow snored .sx Obviously he trumpeted cheerful platitudes all day , He was all round and polished , and without shadows .sx About eleven o'clock Jermyn repeated his visit .sx He strolled along the bank and saw the fat fellow paddling about in a dinghy with a fishing-rod over the stern , and the girl lying in a deck-chair .sx She had a magazine on her knees , but she was not reading it .sx She lay and stared at the sky with an air of perplexed apathy .sx Jermyn went a little way along the bank and sat down under a tree .sx The fat little fellow in the little fat white dinghy was as busy as a water-beetle .sx His bald head glistened .sx He hailed his mate .sx " Sylvie !sx Sylvie !sx " She raised an obscure head .sx " Yes , what is it ?sx " " You got the cream for the strawberries ?sx " " Yes .sx " " What about a Welsh rarebit ?sx I'll come aboard and cook one .sx I'm a dab at toasting cheese .sx " Jermyn's inward man nodded consentingly .sx Welsh rarebit !sx Obviously .sx Was it the Welsh rarebit that made the girl walk in her sleep , or was she suffering from other pangs and disharmonies ?sx There was something likeable about that fat little fellow and yet !sx That night Jermyn went down and watched the house-boat .sx There was the same moon , the same silence , the same mystery .sx A sound of snoring trembled from the inwardness of Ain't She Sweet .sx And then the white figure emerged and crossed the plank of the gangway , and began to float over the grassland in its suit of white silk .sx Jermyn felt strangely troubled .sx This mystery of sleep-walking seemed part of the greater mystery of things , it was a salute to the moon , and to all those mysterious pangs and yearnings which the immortal soul is heir to .sx A Welsh rarebit or tragedy ?sx Could anything tragic associate itself with that fat fellow's snoring ?sx He followed .sx He so much as dared to get ahead of the girl and let her pass close to him .sx He might have been and was invisible .sx Some other self walked in the body of her mundane flesh .sx She floated and dreamed , and Jermyn shadowed her white slimness until she returned to the house-boat and its happy stridor .sx Something in him rebelled .sx He was conscious of qualms .sx Almost it was as though he was wanting to walk with the dreamer .sx Monday and eight o'clock !sx Jermyn was down there and under cover in time to see the early bird off to business .sx Wearing bowler and black coat , and carrying a little brown case , he got into the dinghy and handled the sculls .sx " Good-bye , darling .sx " A murmur seemed to come from the house-boat .sx " Good-bye , darly-darly .sx I'll bring back a lobster to-night .sx " In Jermyn there stirred a little spasm of nausea .sx It was not that he was just an idle fellow with a sentimental eye fixed upon a pretty woman , for in Africa Jermyn had learnt the love of watching instead of the lust to kill , and this Lady Macbeth of the barge had got herself mixed up with the moonlight .sx There was something a little frightening and poignant in the stare of her dark , sleep-walking eyes ; for Jermyn she had the lure of some gliding and mysterious animal .sx But how absurd !sx What was she , after all , but a bit of suburbia mated to a little fellow who went oilily to business in a bowler hat , and who had christened his house-boat Ain't She Sweet .sx You might get very bored with his snoring and his cheerfulness , and his lobsters and his Welsh rarebits , but he was not exactly a figure of tragedy .sx However , the urge stirred in Jermyn .sx He was curious to see how the live woman behaved while the man was away in town .sx How did she and Ain't She Sweet amuse each other ?sx It was like watching life in Africa , and he sat under a tree in a tangle of bracken and used a pair of field-glasses .sx The flies were active , far more active than anything , upon the deck of the house-boat , for the girl appeared to do nothing but lie in a long chair and gaze at the river and the sky .sx Occasionally the leaves of a book fluttered , and once Jermyn did discover her looking at something that might have been a photograph .sx As a .sx matter of fact it was a photograph , the portrait of someone who was dead , someone who had died in the war .sx The flies grew more aggressive , and Jermyn allowed himself a more active inclination towards the river .sx He strolled down ; he approached the house-boat so that the woman remained unconscious of his nearness ; he stood and observed her .sx Suddenly he addressed her .sx " Excuse me , but could you tell me where and how I can cross the river here ?sx " She was startled .sx She sat up in her chair .sx She tucked the photo away between the pages of a book .sx " I beg your pardon ?sx " Jermyn , standing there with his hat in his hand , had the impression of her as a woman who was frightened .sx Now , what on earth had she to be afraid of ?sx But was not a startled antelope just as fearful ?sx " I'm sorry .sx I'm afraid I have disturbed you .sx I wondered if you could tell me how I could get across the river .sx " She stared at him , but there was no recognition in her eyes .sx As a sleep-walker she was genuine .sx " There is a bridge at Malton .sx " " How far ?sx " " Oh , two miles I think .sx " " Nothing nearer ?sx " " The hotel has punts .sx I'm afraid our dinghy is over the other side .sx My husband leaves it there for crossing in the evening .sx " Her eyes had a kind of vacancy .sx It seemed to Jermyn that even while she was speaking to him , her thoughts were elsewhere , absorbed in some other life .sx He was just a little piqued , for she was a comely creature , and she had for him a suggestion of mystery .sx She looked so unsuited to Ain't She Sweet , and a little fat fellow in a bowler hat .sx He said :sx " Thank you so much .sx I think I'll try the hotel .sx Peaceful spot , this .sx " Her eyelids flickered .sx " Yes ; very quiet .sx " " Some of us like it like this .sx " But obviously she was waiting for him to go ; I had disturbed her melancholy dreaming , and his feeling of pique was merged into pity .sx He thought that she had the saddest eyes he had ever seen .sx It was as though he had surprised her in a moment of relaxation when she had ceased to stiffen herself with the starch of pretence , and had let herself drift like some Ophelia on the waters of oblivion .sx But , no ; it was not quite like that .sx Her eyes reminded him of the eyes of a animal shut up in a cage .sx He smiled , saluted her , and walked on .sx Now , what was the trouble ?sx Was it just a case of boredom and too much lobster and cheerfulness and bowler hats and digestive disillusionment ?sx Was she just one of those young women who needed a floor to scrub ?sx But then , was not the house-boat ready to hand , and all the multifarious fussings of the so-called simple life ?sx No ; somehow he left her with the feeling that her disharmony was more than a mere matter of temperament .sx Possibly she was one of those who had scuttled into a cage to escape from life , and who now yearned to escape from the cage .sx Jermyn wandered back to the Camois Court for lunch , and afterwards he lay in a long chair under a tree and meditated .sx " That woman's bored , " he thought ; " and I'm bored ; half this tired old country is bored , and rushes about in machines to try and escape somewhere .sx I suppose that fat fellow is bored .sx " .sx