"With your permission, I will go by myself. Farewell;" and, with a bow that included all, she left the room.
They saw her walk through the little garden, open the gate, and reach the road. Then they lost sight of her.
For a long while no one spoke. Mr. Paulton broke the silence. "I'm very sorry." He did not say for what; he scarcely knew for what.
"She's a wonderful woman," said Jerry O'Brien. "I am not surprised at her not speaking to me. She bowed to me as much as to say she knew me. I often met her before, but never saw her in any humour like this. Why, in the name of all that's mysterious, would she not allow any one to go with her? It could not do her any harm for either you or Pringle or Alfred to go with her."
"That struck me as most strange," said Mr. Paulton.
"We are all friends here," said Pringle. "It doesn't seem strange to me. It seems foolish, though. If they want her they can catch her abroad as well as in England."
"Abroad!" said Mr. Paulton, in perplexity. "Surely she is not going abroad before the funeral of her husband. No woman would think of leaving the country before her husband is buried."
"Under certain circumstances, a woman might if an inquest was to precede the burial."
"Oh, I see."
"Now, gentlemen, I think we ought to be able to guess why she would have no luggage, no escort. She is going to disguise herself and fly to the Continent."