"She is up stairs ? you mustn"t go to her, Hugh!" said Fleda, laying a detaining hand upon him with more strength than she thought she had; "I don"t want anything."
"Why mustn"t I go to her?"
"I don"t think she wants to be disturbed" ?
"I must disturb her" ?
"You mustn"t! ? I know she don"t ? she isn"t well ? something has happened to trouble her" ?
"What?"
"I don"t know."
"And is that what has troubled you, too?" said Hugh, his countenance changing as he gained more light on the subject; "what is it, dear Fleda?"
"I don"t know," repeated Fleda, bursting into tears. Hugh was quiet enough now, and sat down beside her, subdued and still, without even desiring to ask a question. Fleda"s tears flowed violently for a minute, then she checked them for his sake, and they sat motionless, without speaking to one another, looking into the fire, and letting it die out before them into embers and ashes, neither stirring to put a hand to it. As the fire died, the moonlight streamed in : how very dismal the room looked!
"What do you think about having tea?" said Barby, opening the door of the kitchen.
Neither felt it possible to answer her.
"Mr. Rossitur aint come home, is he?"
"No," said Fleda, shuddering.
"So I thought, and so I told Seth Plumfield, just now ? he was asking for him. My stars! ha"n"t you no fire here? what did you let it go out for?"
Barby came in and began to build it up.
"It"s growing cold, I can tell you, so you may as well have something in the chimney to look at. You"ll want it shortly, if you don"t now."
"Was Mr. Plumfield here, did you say, Barby?"
"Yes."
"Why didn"t he come in!"
"I s"pose he hadn"t a mind to," said Barby. " "Twa"n"t for want of being asked. I did the civil thing by him if he didn"t by me; but he said he didn"t want to see anybody but Mr.
Rossitur."
Did not want to see anybody but Mr. Rossitur, when he had distinctly said he did not wish to see him! Fleda felt sick, merely from the mysterious dread which could fasten upon nothing, and therefore took in everything.
"Well, what about tea?" concluded Barby, when the fire was going according to her wishes. "Will you have it, or will you wait longer?"
"No, we wont wait; we will have it now, Barby," said Fleda, forcing herself to make the exertion; and she went to the window to put down the hangings.
The moonlight was very bright, and Fleda"s eye was caught in the very act of letting down the curtain, by a figure in the road slowly pa.s.sing before the courtyard fence. It paused a moment by the horse-gate, and turning, paced slowly back till it was hid behind the rose-acacias. There was a clump of shrubbery in that corner thick enough even in winter to serve for a screen. Fleda stood with the curtain in her hand, half let down, unable to move, and feeling almost as if the very currents of life within her were standing still, too. She thought, she was almost sure, she knew the figure; it was on her tongue to ask Hugh to come and look, but she checked that.
The form appeared again from behind the acacias, moving with the same leisurely pace the other way towards the horse-gate.
Fleda let down the curtain, then the other two, quietly, and then left the room, and stole, noiselessly, out at the front door, leaving it open, that the sound of it might not warn Hugh what she was about; and stepping like a cat down the steps, ran, breathlessly, over the snow to the courtyard gate; there waited, shivering in the cold, but not feeling it for the cold within, while the person she was watching stood still a few moments by the horse-gate, and came again, with leisurely steps towards her.
"Seth Plumfield!" said Fleda, almost as much frightened at the sound of her own voice as he was. He stopped immediately, with a start, and came up to the little gate behind which she was standing, but said nothing.
"What are you doing here?"
"You oughtn"t to be out without anything on," said he ?
"you"re fixing to take your death."
He had good reason to say so. But she gave him no more heed than the wind.
"What are you waiting here for? What do you want?"
"I have nothing better to do with my time," said he; "I thought I"d walk up and down here a little. You go in!"
"Are you waiting to see uncle Rolf?" she said, with teeth chattering.
"You mustn"t stay out here," said he, earnestly; "you"re like nothing but a spook this minute ? I"d rather see one, or a hull army of "em. Go in, go in!"
"Tell me if you want to see him, Seth."
"No, I don"t ? I told you I didn"t."
"Then why are you waiting for him?"
"I thought I"d see if he was coming home to-night ? I had a word to say if I could catch him before he got into the house."
"_Is_ he coming home to-night?" said Fleda.
"I don"t know!" said he, looking at her. "Do you!"
Fleda burst open the gate between them, and putting her hands on his, implored him to tell her what was the matter. He looked singularly disturbed; his fine eye twinkled with compa.s.sion; but his face, never a weak one, showed no signs of yielding now.
"The matter is," said he, pressing hard both her hands, "that you are fixing to be down sick in your bed by to-morrow. You mustn"t stay another second."
"Come in, then."
"No ? not to-night."
"You wont tell me?"
"There is nothing I can tell you ? maybe there"ll be nothing to tell ? run in, run in, and keep quiet."
Fleda hurried back to the house, feeling that she had gone to the limit of risk already. Not daring to show herself to Hugh in her chilled state of body and mind, she went into the kitchen.
"Why, what on earth"s come over you!" was Barby"s terrified e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, when she saw her.
"I have been out and got myself cold ?"
"Cold!" said Barby ? "you"re looking dreadful! What on earth ails you, Fleda?"