The conclusion which her companion had just drawn from the noiseless departure of the supposed visitor raised a sudden doubt in Mercy’s mind.
“Go and inquire!” she said, eagerly.
Julian left the room, and returned again, after a brief absence, with signs of grave anxiety in his face and manner.
“I told you I dreaded the most trifling events that were passing about us,” he said. “An event, which is far from being trifling, has just happened. The carriage which we heard approaching along the drive turns out to have been a cab sent for from the house. The person who has gone away in it—”
“Is a woman, as you supposed?”
“Yes.”
Mercy rose excitedly from her chair.
“It can’t be Grace Roseberry?” she exclaimed.
“It is Grace Roseberry.”
“Has she gone away alone?”