[CHAPTER XLIV.]
THE DREARY WAY
Mary's patience was fairly well tried before she had an opportunity of seeing Mrs. Speed. She heard the latter cry out in astonishment at the sight of Lady Dashwood; she heard the two take their way up the uncarpeted stairs; she could hear restless footsteps overhead. It was quite an hour before they came down. Mary could not quite hear what was passing, but she heard enough to know that Mrs. Speed was in tears.
The tears gave way to a sullen red as Mary came out of the dining-room. She said nothing as the girl beckoned her into the room and shut the door.
"We need not waste any time," Mary said, "you will guess what I came for."
"Who told you where to find me?" was the terrified question in a whisper. "You don't mean to say that in Keppel Terrace they know already----"
"I am not concerned as to what Keppel Terrace knows or thinks," Mary said coldly. "I came back to our rooms last night very late with Miss Colam. To our great surprise and consternation we found the house empty. Our own things had gone with the rest. You might have left them, as they did not belong to you. Miss Colam, who has had more experience in the seamy side of life than I have, says that this midnight flitting is quite usual with a certain class of people. She gave me an experience of a friend of hers, but in that case her belongings were left behind. What did you suppose that we were going to do?"
The woman shook her head sullenly. With her wider knowledge of the world she seemed to think that she had an easy prey in Mary.
"I don't know," she said, "and I didn't care. I've been too badly used by the world to have much sympathy left for other people. And I had to move. The agent told me that he was going to put an execution in today, and I had no time to lose. I don't want to keep your traps and things; I daresay they are here somewhere. Come again in a few days' time, and I will see what I can do for you. I'm busy now."
The speaker advanced half threateningly towards Mary, with an intention of bustling her out of the room. Mary's eyes flashed angrily as she stood before the door.