She was leaning over the paling of split oak branches which formed the paling of the avenue.

He could not see the mongoose, so he asked her where it had gone.
"He slipt out of my arms while I was petting him," she answered, "and disappeared under the hedges." They found him at a place where the avenue widened so as to let carriages pass each other.

The little creature seemed quite changed.

He had been ebulliently active; now he was dull and spiritless--seemed to be dazed.
He allowed himself to be lifted by either of the pair; but when he was alone with Lady Arabella he kept looking round him in a strange way, as though trying to escape.

When they had come out on the roadway Adam held the mongoose tight to him, and, lifting his hat to his companion, moved quickly towards Lesser Hill; he and Lady Arabella lost sight of each other in the thickening gloom.
When Adam got home, he put the mongoose in his box, and locked the door of the room.