“I can’t stir, mother.”
“Oh, dear Lord! what shall I do?”
“Are we alone?”
“They be all away save Solomon,” she answered.
Bess’s face strained painfully towards the window.
“Where is Solomon?” she asked.
Ursula still twisted her hands together and peered round her suspiciously.
“Chopping firewood in his shed. I slipped round through the trees. Lord o’ mercy, what’s to be done—what’s to be done!”
Bess’s strength of purpose increased with Ursula’s indecision.
“Mother,” she said, in a whisper.