The room was unchanged from what it had been on the preceding day. By this time also Edith had noticed that there were no servants about except Hugo. The drear desolation of the vast Hall seemed drearier from the few inmates who dwelt there, and the solitude of the place made it still more intolerable.
After some time Wiggins made his appearance. He came in slowly, with his eyes fixed upon Edith, and the same expression upon his face which she had noticed before. A most singular man he was, whoever or whatever he might be. That hoary head and that venerable face might have awed her under other circumstances, and the unfathomable mystery of its expression might have awakened intense interest and sympathy; but as it was, Edith had no place for any other feelings than suspicion, indignation, and scorn.
“What do you mean by this treatment?” said Edith, abruptly. “It seems as though you are trying to imprison me. I have told you that I wish to call on Miss Plympton. I can not get a carriage, and I am not allowed to leave this place on foot. You are responsible for this, and I tell you now that I must go, and at once.”
At this peremptory address Wiggins stood looking at her with his usual expression, and for some moments made no reply.
“I did not know,” said he at length, in a slow and hesitating voice, “that you wished to leave so soon.”
“But I told you so. You drove away Miss Plympton yesterday from my gates. I promised to call on her this morning. She is anxiously expecting me. I must go to her.” Wiggins again waited for a few moments before replying, and at length said, in an abstracted tone:
“No, no; it can not be—it can not be!”
“Can not be!” repeated Edith. “It seems to me that you are trying to carry out a most extraordinary course of action toward me. This looks like restraint or imprisonment.”
Wiggins looked at her with an expression of earnest entreaty on his face, with which there was also mingled an air of indescribable sadness.
“It is necessary,” said he, in a mournful voice. “Can you not bring yourself to bear with it? You do not know what is at stake. Some day all will be explained.”