Well, sir, five o'clock struck, and Mrs.Holbrook had not come home.

I began to feel seriously uneasy about her.

I told my father so; but he took the matter lightly enough at first, saying it was no business of ours, and that Mrs.Holbrook was just as well able to take care of herself as any one else.

But after five o'clock I couldn't rest a minute longer; so I put on my bonnet and shawl and went down by the river-bank, after sending one of the farm-labourers to look for my poor dear in the opposite direction.

It's a very lonely walk at the best of times, though a few of the country folks do go that way between Malsham and Crosber on market-days.