372
WYLDER'S HAJVD.
on till — till spring comes, you know. And, I wish,"
she sighed softly, "I wish we were as we used to be. I
am not very happy; and — here's the carriage."
CHAPTER LIX.
RACHEL LAKE BEFORE THE ACCUSER.
Twilight was darker in Redman's Dell than anywhere
else. But dark as it was, there was still light enough
to enable Rachel, as she hurried across the little garden,
on her return from Brandon, to see a long white face,
and some dim outline of the figure to which it belonged,
looking out upon her from the window of her little
drawing-room.
Tamar was in the kitchen. Could it be Stanley?
But faint as the outline was she saw, she fancied that it
was a taller person than he. She felt a sort of alarm, in
which there was some little mixture of the superstitious,
and she pushed open the door, not entering the room, but
staring in toward the window, where against the dim, ex-
ternal light, she clearly saw, without recognizing it, a tall
figure, greeting her with mop and moe.
"Who is that?" cried Miss Lake, a little sharply.
"It is I, Miss Lake, Mr. Josiah Larkin, of the Lodge,'
said that gentleman, with what he meant to be an air of
dignified firmness, and looking very like a tall constable
in possession; "I have taken the liberty of presenting
myself, although, I fear, at a somewhat unseasonable hour,
in reference to a little business, which, unfortunately, will
not, I think, bear to be deferred."