On their way back, the clergyman asked to be left at his own dwelling; and this was done.

Claire was then alone with the child, who shrank close to him in the carriage.

He did not speak to her; nor did she do more than lift, now and then, her large, soft, tear-suffused eyes to his face.
Arrived, at length, at the dwelling from which they had just borne forth the dead, Claire gently lifted out the child, and entered the house with her.

Two persons only were within, the domestic and the woman who, on the day previous, had spoken of taking to her own home the little orphaned one.

The former had on her shawl and bonnet, and said that she was about going away.
"You will not leave this child here alone," said Edward.
"I will take her for the present," spoke up the other.