Customers came so seldom hither that a five minutes' absence of the proprietor counted for little.
Joanna waited in the little shop, where Emily had tastefully set out--as women can--articles in themselves of slight value, so as to obscure the meagreness of the stock-in-trade; till she saw a figure pausing without the window apparently absorbed in the contemplation of the sixpenny books, packets of paper, and prints hung on a string.

It was Captain Shadrach Jolliffe, peering in to ascertain if Emily were there alone.
Moved by an impulse of reluctance to meet him in a spot which breathed of Emily, Joanna slipped through the door that communicated with the parlour at the back.

She had frequently done so before, for in her friendship with Emily she had the freedom of the house without ceremony.
Jolliffe entered the shop.

Through the thin blind which screened the glass partition she could see that he was disappointed at not finding Emily there.

He was about to go out again, when Emily's form darkened the doorway, hastening home from some errand.