But from every subject her mind would turn again and again to one question, that repeated itself until it took the form of a goblin and danced through her dreams, when at last she slept, whispering over and over:
"What is it that Cora Arthur carries in a belt about her waist? what is it? what is it?"
For the girl had made a strange discovery while Cora was sitting beside Miss Arthur's bed, clad only in night's scanty drapery.
CHAPTER XXV.
SOME DAYS OF WAITING.
Doctor Vaughan had written that he could find his way with ease to Nurse Hagar's cottage, and he did.
Swinging himself down upon the dark end of the platform, when the evening train puffed into Bellair village, he crossed the track, and walked rapidly along the path that led in the direction of the cottage. He strode on until the light from the cottage window gleamed out upon the night, and his way led over the field. Half way between the stile and the cottage, a form, evidently that of a woman, appeared before him, and coming in his direction.
The figure came nearer, and a voice, that was certainly not Madeline's, said: "Is the gentleman going to old Hagar's cottage?"
"Are you Hagar?" replied Clarence, Yankee fashion.