d.

Looking through a window he saw her mount into the carriage carrying a
portfolio. In that letter case, although he did not know it, were the
letters and diaries which Dr. Goldworthy had brought from the Congo. In
the seclusion of Moor Cottage she found the atmosphere to understand the
words, written now in fire upon her very soul, and to plan her future.

There was no servant at Moor Cottage. She was in the habit of sending
one of her own domestic staff after her visit to make it tidy for her
future reception.

She let herself in through the little door placed under the
green-covered porch.

"You can unharness the horse; I shall be here two hours," she said to
the waiting Brown.

The man touched his hat. He was used to these excursions and was
possessed of the patience of his class. He backed the victoria on to the
moor by the side of the fence which surrounded the house. There was a
little stable at the back, but it was never used. He unharnessed the
horse, fixed his nosebag, and sat down to read his favourite newspaper;
a little journal which dealt familiarly with the erratic conduct of the
upper classes. He was not a quick reader, and there was sufficient in
the gossipy journal to occupy his attention for three or four hours. At
the end of an hour he thought he heard his lady's voice calling him, and
jumping up, he walked to the door of the cottage.

He listened, but there was no other sound, and he came back to his
previous position, and continued his study of the decadent aristocracy.
Four hours he waited, and assailed by a most human hunger, his patience
was pardonably exhausted.

He rose slowly, harnessed the horse, and drove the victoria
ostentatiously before the window of the little sitting-room which Lady
Constance Dex used as a study. Another half an hour passed without any
response, and he got down from his box and knocked at the door.

There was no answer; he knocked again; still no reply.

In alarm he went to the window and peered in. The floor was strewn with
papers scattered in confusion. A chair had been overturned. More to the
point, he saw an overturned inkpot, which was eloquent to his ordered
mind of an unusual happening.

Increasingly alarmed, he put his shoulder to the door, but it did not
yield. He tried the window; it was locked.

It was at that moment that a motor came swiftly over the hill from the
direction of the rectory. With a jar it came to a sudden stop before the
house