Shortly Milly's glances alighted on a strange lady, who was staring at her steadily. She was a brilliant-looking brunette, not very tall (as Milly could see when she stood up), and dressed in the height of fashion. Miss Lester wondered who she could be, and why she stared at her so hard. After a time she returned the gaze, and the eyes of the two met. At once the strange lady removed her eyes, and glanced at Lucas; then looked back to Milly in the most meaning manner. Indignant and bewildered by this pantomime, Milly grew crimson, and tried to keep her attention on the music; but whenever she looked up the lady was glancing in the same way from her to Lucas and back again. Lovel himself did not see the stranger--at all events, Milly did not think so; but Mrs. Drass had her eyes on the brunette, and was doubtless alive with curiosity.
When Mr. Chaskin gave out the text, Milly forgot the strange lady; she forgot Lucas, and Darcy, and everyone else. The only person she remembered was Gran Jimboy, for the text was "One shall be taken, the other left," which was the exact expression used by the gipsy at the time of the hand-reading on the previous day. Milly face grew pallid with nervous fear, her heart beat rapidly, and she felt that the atmosphere was too close to breathe. There seemed to be something ominous in the coincidence of the gipsy's speech and the text; and she felt that something was wrong; also, the looks of the strange lady embarrassed her. So, on the impulse of the moment, she rose from her seat and left the church with all speed.
CHAPTER IV.
[WHAT HAPPENED ON SUNDAY NIGHT.]
At first Iris intended to follow Milly, thinking that she suffered from some slight indisposition; but recollecting that up to the moment of leaving the girl had seemed perfectly well, she concluded that it was merely to escape the sermon Milly had left so hurriedly. For this reason she kept her seat, until it struck her that the exit might be designed in order to meet Lovel. However, a glance assured her that the young man was still in his seat, and showed no intention of following her sister. The strange lady remained, but of course Iris had not observed her as Milly had done. Mrs. Drass, in a pew a little way off, gave a sniff of significance, and glanced at Miss Clyde, but that lady, seeing that Lucas was listening attentively to the sermon (she had caught a glimpse of him, and had turned round to look), paid no attention to the hint. All this passed unperceived by the rest of the congregation.
Mr. Chaskin invariably limited his discourse to fifteen minutes; and on this occasion he was even shorter and more pithy than usual. The service was concluded by eight o'clock, and Lucas was one of the first to leave the church. At once he was followed by the strange lady, whom he had not observed, and when Iris emerged from the porch she found that both had disappeared. Neither was Milly in sight, so, concluding that she had gone home, Iris prepared to follow. Shortly, however, she was accosted by Mrs. Drass, who had left Miss Clyde in order to discover the reason of Milly's exit. To the suspicious mind of the ex-governess, everything done by the doctor's daughter was a covert act of insolence against her former pupil. To such an extent can prejudice distort a naturally liberal nature.
"Good evening, Miss Link," said Mrs. Drass, puffing and blowing--for she was very stout, and had made considerable haste to overtake Iris. "I am so glad to see you. I want to walk home with you and see your dear pa. He is in, I dare say?"
"He was when I left, Mrs. Drass," replied Iris, who quite understood what the good lady was aiming at. "Do you not feel well?"
"Not very, my dear. The heart, you know, and shortness of breath. I thought I would just see Dr. Lester before I drove home with Selina."
"Where is she?" asked Iris, glancing round at the dispersing congregation.