e hall at one end of it, Dan himself came in by the
hall-door at the other. The relief was extraordinary.

"Hallo! where are you off to?" he said.

"Just going for a little walk," she answered, speaking ungraciously
and without looking at him. Now that she saw him, her ordinary feeling
for him returned; but instead of being quiet and indifferent as usual,
she found herself showing in her manner something of the contempt she
felt, and it pleased her to do it. She was glad to go out, and be in
the open air away from him; but she had not gone far before the
torment in her mind began again. Why had he come in so unusually
early? Was there anything going on in the house? He was always very
familiar with the servants.

She stopped short at this, turned back, and went in as hurriedly as
she had gone out. In the hall she stood a moment listening. The house
seemed unusually quiet. A green baize door separated the kitchen and
offices from the hall. She opened it, and saw Minna in the butler's
pantry, cleaning the plate. Minna was parlour-maid now, a housemaid
having been added to the establishment when Miss Petterick came, so
that that young lady might be well waited on.

"I think we should give the girl full value for her money, you know,
even if we do without something ourselves," Dan had said, in the
generous thoughtful way that had so often imposed upon Beth.

Beth asked Minna where Drew, the housemaid, was.

"It's her afternoon out, ma'am," Minna answered.

"So it is," said Beth. "I had forgotten."

"Do you want anything, ma'am?" Minna asked. "You're looking poorly.
Would you like a cup o' tea?"

"No, thank you," Beth rejoined, then changed her mind. "Yes, I should,
though. Get me one while I'm taking my things off, and bring it to me
in the dining-room. Where is your master?"

"I don't know, ma'am. I've not heard if he's come in; but it's full
early for him yet," Minna replied, as she took off her working apron.

While she was talking to the girl, the worry in Beth's head stopped,
and she felt as usual. Going quietly upstairs, she fancied she heard
some one moving in her bedroom, and, entering it by way of the
dressing-room, she discovered Dan on his knees on the floor, prying
into one of the boxes she had had with her at Ilverthorpe, and kept
locked until she should feel inclined to unpack it. He seemed to have
had all the contents out, and was just deftly repacking it. As he
replaced the dresses, he felt in t