Again she knocked, and now the murmur of women's voices inside was hushed, and some one came quickly to the door, and opened it sharply.
It was Sylvia.

Although her face was completely in shadow, of course Hester knew her well; but she, if indeed she would have recognized Hester less disguised, did not know in the least who the woman, muffled up in a great cloak, with her hat tied down with a silk handkerchief, standing in the porch at this time of night, could be.
Nor, indeed, was she in a mood to care or to inquire.

She said hastily, in a voice rendered hoarse and arid with grief: 'Go away.

This is no house for strangers to come to.

We've enough on our own to think on;' and she hastily shut the door in Hester's face, before the latter could put together the right words in which to explain her errand.