With a dark stare in his face, she obeys. An odd approach, surely, for a master to make to his own house!
“No one up in the house but you?” he whispers, as soon as the window is open.
“Not one!”
“Don't say a word, only listen: come, softly, round to the hall-door, and let me in; and light those candles there, and bring them with you to the hall. Don't let a creature know I have been here, and make no noise for your life!”
The old woman nodded with the same little frown; and he, pointing toward the hall door, walks away silently in that direction.
“What makes you look so white and dowley?” mutters the old woman, as she secures the window, and bars the shutters again.
“Good creature!” whispers Sir Richard, as he enters the hall, and places his hand kindly on her shoulder, and with a very dark look; “you have always been true to me, Martha, and I depend on your good sense; not a word of my having been here to any one—not to Miss Alice! I have to search for papers. I shall be here but an hour or so. Don't lock or bar the door, mind, and get to your bed! Don't come up this way again—good-night!”
“Won't you have some supper?”
“No, thanks.”
“A glass of sherry and a bit o' something?”