One evening, his eye fell on the photograph of Honister Crag, which was hanging over his mantlepiece. He looked back upon that walk with such happy remembrance. How much he had enjoyed it, and how far away it seemed now! He seemed to have lived a lifetime since then. He wondered how Marjorie was getting on. Was the hard work telling upon her? Could she keep her bright cheery spirit after so long a time spent in such dreary surroundings? It was six months since he had seen her. Was it really only six months? It seemed much longer.
Surely there would be no harm in his running over to Daisy Bank for an hour, the next time that he had a spare afternoon. He would be careful—very careful. Not a word or a look should reveal his secret. He would simply see her and come away, content if she were happy, and thoroughly satisfied if he knew no trouble was hanging over her.
At last the spare afternoon came, and he felt a great throb of pleasurable excitement as he got out on the Deepfields platform. Perhaps he should meet her on the road; it was the time when she usually took her walk.
But no, she was not there to-day. He walked on over the pit mounds to Daisy Bank. How long the way seemed! He passed the old cottage where his lost letter had lain so long; it was shut up and deserted. He hurried on now. Colwyn House was only a little further down the lane; he would soon be there, and would see her again.
He was going up to the door when he drew back in dismay. The windows were covered with dirt; several of the panes were broken; the steps were a mass of mud; the small garden was overgrown with weeds; the house which Marjorie had brightened by her presence was left untenanted and utterly desolate.
He stood looking at it for some moments in Hopeless bewilderment. A lad, who had come from his work in the pit, was standing near, leaning against a broken-down wall.
"How long has this house been empty?" asked Captain Fortescue.
"Six months, or maybe more," said the boy. "Have they moved to another house here?"
"No; they're gone."
"Gone where?"