Again Chris moved her head in vague acquiescence.
'I have heard how heavily this blow has fallen upon you, and my heart bled with pity. I felt I might be able to comfort you.
Chris put her back with a weak fluttering hand.
'My dear, I am an old woman; I have seen much trouble and have borne some, and I know that hearts break most often in loneliness.'
'You know the truth?' asked the girl, through dry lips.
'I know Richard Haddon's story.' 'And you have not come to—to—'
'I have come to offer you all a woman's sympathy, my girl; to try to help you to be strong.'
Mrs. Hardy took the weary girl in her arms and kissed her pale cheek.
'You are good! You are very good!' murmured Chris brokenly, clinging to her. But she suddenly thrust herself back from the sheltering arms and uttered a cry of despair.
The door communicating with the next room had been opened and a grim figure crept into the kitchen, the figure of Ephraim Shine. The man was clad only in a tattered shirt and old moleskins; his face was as gaunt as that of death, and his skin a ghastly yellow. He moved into the room on his hands and knees, seeking something, and chummered insanely as he scratched at the hard flooring-boards with his claw-like fingers, and peered eagerly into the cracks. He moved about the room in this way, searching in the corners, dragging his way about with his face close to the floor.