"Yes, dear, but I cannot tell you what they are. Perhaps the time may come when I shall tell you all, but for the present trust in me, have faith in me."
The solemnity of her voice had its effect, and Constance no longer attempted to prevail upon her.
"Are you warm enough, mamma?"
"Yes, dear child, and my boots are dry and thick. God bless my darling, and shield her from harm."
Constance tied a red silk scarf round her mother's neck, who left her with bright smiles and cheering words. Then Emilia made her way to her other lodging of one room, and effected the change in her garments. There was no other lodger in the house but herself, and she had a latchkey to let herself in; she experienced little difficulty in preserving the secrecy necessary for her operations, and she entered and left the house always without being observed.
She surveyed herself in the little bit of broken looking-glass which rested on the deal chest of drawers against the wall. "It is not possible for anyone to recognize me," she thought, and was about to leave the room, when her eyes fell upon the red scarf which Constance had tied round her throat. With a tender smile she took it up and put it on. She looked at her watch; it was a quarter to ten. "I have still a few minutes," she said, and she knelt by the side of the bed she had not yet occupied, and prayed for strength and for a successful issue of her dangerous errand. Then she went out into the streets.
They were almost deserted; all the better for her task. On such a night who would notice her? As she turned into Gerard Street the church clocks chimed a quarter to eleven. She had three-quarters of an hour to wait. But the hot blood rushed over her face and neck as she saw, three or four paces ahead of her, the form of a man proceeding in the direction she was taking--and that man no other than Dr. Peterssen. He knocked--a peculiar knock seemingly by pre-arrangement--and Emilia timed her steps so that she reached and passed the door as it was opened by someone from within. She stooped just beyond the street-door, and while she was pretending to tie her shoestring heard what passed, which may fitly be given here in dramatic form:
Dr. Peterssen: "Ah, my dear friend, at last we meet!"
M. Felix (starting back): "You!"
(His voice, although it had spoken but one word, was to Emilia a confirmation. It was the voice of Gerald's brother, Leonard.)