“A trick? No. Why should I?”
There was a pause, during which Mrs. Brander stood looking at her fixedly. As she did not speak, Olivia presently asked—
“Do you still wish to go in?”
Mrs. Brander hesitated, and then drew back with a shudder.
“No,” she murmured, scarcely above her breath, “I—I won’t go in.”
As, however, she did not attempt to go away, Olivia bade her “good-night,” without getting any answer, and went up the lane towards the house. She did not wish to call at the Vicarage now; she wanted first to have time to think over what she had seen and heard in the churchyard, as well as her interview with Mrs. Brander. A new idea, which promised to throw light on the whole mystery, had come into her mind. But there was the key to be returned to Mrs. Warmington. After a moment’s thought, she decided that she would leave it at the back door, and thus escape the risk of a meeting with Vernon.
But when she had reached the gate of the yard behind the house, she heard Vernon’s voice calling her.
“Miss Denison, Miss Denison, wait one moment!”
He had caught sight of her from a side window, and in another minute he had come down to her.
“Why did you come round this way?” he asked, taking her hand in one of his, which was hot, and dry, and feverish.