He came downstairs and opened the inner door leading from the kitchen into the workshop, intending to let out Gyp; but he stood still in the doorway, smitten with a sudden shock at the sight of Adam seated listlessly on the bench, pale, unwashed, with sunken blank eyes, almost like a drunkard in the morning. But Seth felt in an instant what the marks meant—not drunkenness, but some great calamity. Adam looked up at him without speaking, and Seth moved forward towards the bench, himself trembling so that speech did not come readily.
“God have mercy on us, Addy,” he said, in a low voice, sitting down on the bench beside Adam, “what is it?”
Adam was unable to speak. The strong man, accustomed to suppress the signs of sorrow, had felt his heart swell like a child’s at this first approach of sympathy. He fell on Seth’s neck and sobbed.
Seth was prepared for the worst now, for, even in his recollections of their boyhood, Adam had never sobbed before.
“Is it death, Adam? Is she dead?” he asked, in a low tone, when Adam raised his head and was recovering himself.
“No, lad; but she’s gone—gone away from us. She’s never been to Snowfield. Dinah’s been gone to Leeds ever since last Friday was a fortnight, the very day Hetty set out. I can’t find out where she went after she got to Stoniton.”
Seth was silent from utter astonishment: he knew nothing that could suggest to him a reason for Hetty’s going away.
“Hast any notion what she’s done it for?” he said, at last.
“She can’t ha’ loved me. She didn’t like our marriage when it came nigh—that must be it,” said Adam. He had determined to mention no further reason.
“I hear Mother stirring,” said Seth. “Must we tell her?”