"Do you understand this ?" he asked.
She silently shook her head.
"If any person has gone away in the carriage," Julian went on, "that person can hardly have been a man, or we must have heard him in the hall." The conclusion which her companion had just drawn from the noiseless departure of the supposed visitor raised a sudden doubt in Mercy's mind.
"Go and inquire!" she said, eagerly.
Julian left the room, and returned again, after a brief absence, with signs of grave anxiety in his face and manner.
"I told you I dreaded the most trifling events that were passing about us," he said.

"An event, which is far from being trifling, has just happened.

The carriage which we heard approaching along the drive turns out to have been a cab sent for from the house.

The person who has gone away in it--" "Is a woman, as you supposed ?" "Yes." Mercy rose excitedly from her chair.
"It can't be Grace Roseberry ?" she exclaimed.
"It _is_ Grace Roseberry." "Has she gone away alone ?" "Alone--after an interview with Lady Janet." "Did she go willingly ?" "She herself sent the servant for the cab." "What does it mean ?" "It is useless to inquire.

We shall soon know." They resumed their seats, waiting, as they had waited already, with their eyes on the library door..