The expression of her face was of mingled perplexity and displeasure.

After a time, these gave place to a more composed and defiant look.

She had taken her resolve, had marked out her line of conduct.
"I won't say another word to Stephen about her," she thought.

"I'll just watch and see how things go.

Nothing can happen in this house without my knowing it." The mischief was done; but Mrs.White was very much mistaken in the last clause of her soliloquy.
Meantime, Mercy was slowly walking towards the village, revolving her own little perplexities, and with a mind much freer from the thought of Stephen White than it had been for four weeks.