When Susan’s work is done, she sits by a single guttering candle with the window open, reading slowly and steadily. The speaker watches in the hush, hearing only the wind, a distant cock crow, and the shuffle of Susan’s thumb turning pages. She mutters at the characters and shakes her head, then suddenly glances over her glasses and scolds the speaker — “You! I thought you was in bed!” — before sinking back into her book.
The mood is affectionate, amused, and a little dreamlike. Candlelight, open window, and night silence make the scene feel intimate. The speaker seems fond of Susan and quietly fascinated by how completely she disappears into her story, returning for only a moment to ordinary life before being pulled back into Romance.