She dispatched Lucy at once for the bearer of the note, sent her friends to the right-about, and closeted herself with the young woman—a pale young woman, with dark eyes and an intelligent face.
"Who are you?" abruptly demanded the bride, looking curiously at her.
"Sarah Grant," answered the young woman—"a shopgirl."
"Who sent you with this note?"
"A woman who lodges in the same house—a tall, gaunt, half-crazed looking creature. She is dangerously ill."
The girl answered straightforwardly, gazing round her the while in open-eyed admiration.
"Do you know her name?"
"We call her old Miriam; she refuses to tell her name. I have done little things for her since she has been ill, and she begged me so hard to fetch you this letter that I could not refuse."
"Do you know its contents?"
"Only that you are expected to return with me. She told me that she had something to say to you that you would give half your life to hear."