Mrs.Costello could think of nothing but Bailey, and she did not dare to talk about him from some fanciful fear of being overheard.

Lucia thought of her mother's health and of Maurice, and Mrs.Costello had no attention to spare for either.
Suddenly, sounding very loud in the stillness, there came the roll of a carriage over the rough stones of the Place.

It stopped; there was a moment's pause, and then a hasty ring at the door-bell.

Both mother and daughter paused and listened.

There was a quick movement downstairs--a foot which was swifter and lighter than Madame Everaert's on the staircase--and Maurice at the sitting-room door.
Mrs.Costello went forward from the doorway where she had been arrested by the sound of his coming; Lucia, kneeling before a trunk in the adjoining room, saw him standing there, and sprang to her feet; he came in glad, eager, impatient to know what they wanted of him; and before any of them had time to think about it, this meeting, so much desired and dreaded, was over.
"But how could you come so soon ?" Mrs.Costello asked.