Then she seated herself in a low
chair that was by the bed side. For her, too, the past night had
been one of painful watching; her nerves threatened danger if she
stayed in the same room with Lilian. Here she could recover
something of self-control, and think over the latest aspect of
affairs.
Thus had she sat for nearly half an hour, when her reverie was
broken by a sound from below. It was the closing of the front door.
She sprang up and ran to the window, to see if any one passed out
into the road; but no figure became visible. The gate was closed; no
one could have gone forth so quickly. A minute or two passed, yet
she heard and saw nothing.
Then she quickly descended the stairs. The door of the sitting-room
was open; the room was vacant.
"Lilian!" she called aloud, involuntarily.
She sprang to the front door and looked about in the little garden.
Some one moving behind caused her to turn round; it was the servant.
"Annie, has Mrs. Quarrier left the house?"
"Yes, m'm, she has. I just had the kitchen door open, and I saw her
go out--without anything on her head."
"Where can she be, then? The gate hasn't been opened; I should have
heard it."
One other way there was out of the garden. By passing along a side
of the cottage, one came into the back-yard, and thence, by a gate,
into one of the fields which spread towards Bale Water.
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