He pointed as he spoke to a small cottage, like a lodge, standing surrounded by trees, at the gate of a kind of avenue.
‘The house?’ she echoed. ‘Do you mean where they will give me a night’s lodging?’
He looked at her with a curious expression, indicative of rural suspicion.
‘You’re like the rest on ’em, missis! You know well enough where you’re a-coming, but you won’t let on to know. Never mind, you ain’t the fust by many as has had a lift in my old cart. There, go up right through that gate, missis, and they’ll give you a night’s lodgings, never fear!’
So saying, with a grim nod, the countryman drove away, leaving the woman perplexed and even alarmed.
What could he mean? Could he have any suspicion that she was a fugitive? She was too dazed and weak quite ta understand, or even heed his mysterious allusions. A sickening weight was on her heart, and though her hands and feet were stony cold, her frame was on fire. She stood tottering, as if about to faint.
It was again afternoon, and the red sunlight fell on the little lodge and on the long avenue beyond, overshadowed with sere and yellow trees. The place seemed still and peaceful. She crept nearer, and presently stood with her face against the iron gate, looking in.
As she stood thus, there came on her ear the sound of female voices; and she saw approaching down the avenue, a troop of about thirty women walking in couples, talking and laughing as they came along. They were plainly dressed, for the most part in plain stuff dresses and dark shawls, and each wore a tight-fitting bonnet of the same description. On they came, chattering like children. Most of them, even in their not too becoming costume, showed the signs of personal comeliness, and a few were really pretty.
Suddenly they turned into a side path and disappeared. The sound of their voices died quietly away among the trees.
Trembling and wondering, the woman opened the iron gate and approached the door of the lodge. She knocked feebly, but in a moment the door was opened, and a goodlooking country dame, very clean and bright, stood on the threshold.