t jealous
blind, shining in that softened domestic light, what drama, murderous to
the doctor's peace, might be going on now?

CHAPTER XVI.

Nettie had taken her resolution all at once. Breathless in sudden
conviction, angry, heated, yet seeing in the midst of her excitement no
help but an immediate action, the hasty little woman had darted into the
heart of the difficulty at once. Every moment she lingered wore her out
and disgusted her more with the life and fate which, nevertheless, it
was impossible to abandon or shrink from. Nothing was so safe as to make
matters irrevocable--to plunge over the verge at once. All gleaming with
resolve and animation--with the frosty, chill, exhilarating air which
had kindled the colour in her cheeks and the light in her eyes--with
haste, resentment, every feeling that can quicken the heart and make the
pulses leap--Nettie had flashed into the little parlour, where all was
so quiet and leisurely. There Susan sat in close confabulation with the
Bushman. The children had been banished out of the room, because their
mother's head was not equal to their noise and restlessness. When they
came in with Nettie, as was inevitable, Mrs Fred sustained the invasion
with fretful looks and a certain peevish abstraction. She was evidently
interrupted by the rapid entrance, which was as unwelcome as it was
hasty. Cold though the night was, Mrs Fred, leaning back upon her sofa,
fanned her pink cheeks with her handkerchief, and looked annoyed as
well as disturbed when her children came trooping into the room clamorous
for tea behind the little impetuous figure which at once hushed and
protected them. Susan became silent all at once, sank back on the sofa,
and concealed the faded flush upon her cheeks and the embarrassed
conscious air she wore behind the handkerchief which she used so
assiduously. Neither she nor her visitor took much share in the
conversation that rose round the domestic table. Nettie, too, was
sufficiently absorbed in her own concerns to say little, and nobody
there was sufficiently observant to remark what a sudden breath of
haste and nervous decision inspired the little household ruler as she
dispensed the family bread-and-butter. When tea was over, Nettie sent
her children out of the way with peremptory distinctness, and stayed
behind them to make her communication. If she noticed vaguely a certain
confused impatience and desire to get rid of her in the looks of her
sist