But the hour of return came, and her father delayed.

Then was every minute an eternity.

No longer able to keep her reclining position, she stood again by the window, and her eyes lost their vision from straining upon one spot, that at which Hood would first appear.

She leaned her head upon the window-sill, and let her ears take their turn of watching; the first touch of a hand at the gate would reach her.

But there came none.
Can hours thus be lived through?
Ah, which of us to whom time has not been a torment of hell?
Is there no nether Circle, where dread anticipation eternally prolongs itself, eternally varied with hope in vain for ever?
Mrs.Hood had abandoned her useless protests; she came and sat by the girl.
'I've no doubt he's gone to the Walkers',' she kept saying, naming acquaintances with whom Hood occasionally spent an evening.