o, Lucia,
and see if there is any packing you can do--without attracting
attention, you know."

"But, mamma," Lucia objected, "Maurice cannot be here to-day, nor even,
I believe, to-morrow, at the very soonest, and I will soon do what there
is to do."

"There is a great deal. And I can't help you, my poor child. And there
ought not to be a moment's unnecessary delay."

Lucia had to yield. She began to pack as if all their arrangements were
made, though they had no idea either when, or to what end, their
wanderings would recommence, nor were able to give a hint to those about
them of their intended departure.

Another restless night passed, and another day began. There was the
faintest possibility, they calculated, that Maurice, if he started as
soon as he received Lucia's note, might reach them late at night.

It was but the shadow of a chance, for Hunsdon, as they knew, lay at
some distance from either post-office or railway station, and the letter
might not reach him till this very morning. Yet, since he _might_ come,
they must do all they could to be ready. The day was very hot. All the
windows were open, and the shutters closed; a drowsy heat and stillness
filled the rooms. Mrs. Costello walked about perpetually. She had tried
to help Lucia, but had been obliged to leave off and content herself
with gathering up, here and there, the things that were in daily use,
and bringing them to Lucia to put away. They said very little to each
other. Mrs. Costello could think of nothing but Bailey, and she did not
dare to talk about him from some fanciful fear of being overheard. Lucia
thought of her mother's health and of Maurice, and Mrs. Costello had no
attention to spare for either.

Suddenly, sounding very loud in the stillness, there came the roll of a
carriage over the rough stones of the Place. It stopped; there was a
moment's pause, and then a hasty ring at the door-bell. Both mother and
daughter paused and listened. There was a quick movement downstairs--a
foot which was swifter and lighter than Madame Everaert's on the
staircase--and Maurice at the sitting-room door.

Mrs. Costello went forward from the doorway where she had been arrested
by the sound of his coming; Lucia, kneeling before a trunk in the
adjoining room, saw him standing there, and sprang to her feet; he came
in glad, eager, impatient to know what they wanted of him; and before
any of them had time to think about it, this meeting, so much desir