Page:The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (emended first edition), Volume 1.djvu/100

88 "Oh, stop!—don't tell me now: I shall forget every word of your directions before I require them. I shall not think about going till next spring; and then, perhaps, I may trouble you. At present we have the winter before us, and—"

She suddenly paused, with a suppressed exclamation started up from her seat, and saying, "Excuse me one moment," hurried from the room, and shut the door behind her.

Curious to see what had startled her so, I looked towards the window,—for her eyes had been carelessly fixed upon it the moment before—and just beheld the skirts of a man's coat vanishing behind a large holly bush that stood between the window and the porch.

"It's Mamma's friend," said Arthur.

Rose and I looked at each other.

"I don't know what to make of her, at all," whispered Rose.

The child look at her in grave surprise. She straightway began to talk to him on indifferent