Longville retreated from the house in a sadly befuddled state. Surely something serious was the matter with Jo Morey. She looked ill and acted queer, almost suspiciously queer. And she was going away! No one went away from Point of Pines unless dire necessity drove them. Why should people ever go away from anywhere unless forced?
Then Longville's thoughts drifted back to the time when Mam'selle had gone away before and came back so bedraggled and spent.
It was all very odd and unsettling.
"Surely Mam'selle needs watching," mumbled Longville and he decided to watch.
Night favoured his schemes. He forsook the tavern and made stealthy trips to the little white house, only to be greeted by blank darkness, except for a dim gleam at the edges of the curtain at the window of the small north chamber.
"Mam'selle has not yet gone," concluded Longville, but that was little comfort. Then one night he got bolder and crept close to the rear and listened under the chamber window.
Jo was talking to—— At that instant the kitchen door was flung open and out dashed Nick.
"At him!" commanded Mam'selle, standing in the panel of light, laughing diabolically, "It's a skunk, no doubt; drive him off, Nick; don't touch him!"
Longville escaped, how, he could not tell, for Nick sniffed at his retreating heels well down the highway.
Three or four nights after, Longville, discreetly keeping to the road, where he had a perfect right to be, paused before the white house again. It was a dark night, with occasional flashes of moonlight as the wind scattered the clouds.