On the ninth morning, she woke early, and he was not in the bed. She lay in the bed and listened. The cottage was quiet. There was no sound of the kettle. There was no sound of a chair on the porch. There was no sound of him moving through the rooms, the way he usually moved, the way a man moves in a house that has been his house for a long time. She listened. The cottage was quiet. She got up. She went to the door of the bedroom. She opened it. The landing was empty. She went down the stairs....