elf across the few yards between us. As I did so, I
heard the house-door open, and saw Mr. Ranford approaching. He looked
handsome and cheerful, as my mistress had looked that morning, and at
sight of him the blood began to flow again in my veins.

"Why, Hartley," said he, "what's the matter? I saw you coming down the
lane just now, and came out to see if you had taken root in the snow."
He stopped and stared at me. "What are you looking at?" he says.

I turned toward the elm as he spoke, and his eyes followed me; but
there was no one there. The lane was empty as far as the eye could
reach.

A sense of helplessness came over me. She was gone, and I had not been
able to guess what she wanted. Her last look had pierced me to the
marrow; and yet it had not told me! All at once, I felt more desolate
than when she had stood there watching me. It seemed as if she had left
me all alone to carry the weight of the secret I couldn't guess. The
snow went round me in great circles, and the ground fell away from
me....

A drop of brandy and the warmth of Mr. Ranford's fire soon brought me
to, and I insisted on being driven back at once to Brympton. It was
nearly dark, and I was afraid my mistress might be wanting me. I
explained to Mr. Ranford that I had been out for a walk and had been
taken with a fit of giddiness as I passed his gate. This was true
enough; yet I never felt more like a liar than when I said it.

When I dressed Mrs. Brympton for dinner she remarked on my pale looks
and asked what ailed me. I told her I had a headache, and she said she
would not require me again that evening, and advised me to go to bed.

It was a fact that I could scarcely keep on my feet; yet I had no fancy
to spend a solitary evening in my room. I sat downstairs in the hall as
long as I could hold my head up; but by nine I crept upstairs, too
weary to care what happened if I could but get my head on a pillow. The
rest of the household went to bed soon afterward; they kept early hours
when the master was away, and before ten I heard Mrs. Blinder's door
close, and Mr. Wace's soon after.

It was a very still night, earth and air all muffled in snow. Once in
bed I felt easier, and lay quiet, listening to the strange noises that
come out in a house after dark. Once I thought I heard a door open and
close again below: it might have been the glass door that led to the
gardens. I got up and peered out of the window; but it was in the dark
of the